One A Day
by hallow777
Summary: Collection of mini-stories. 97: After finding out that Castle and Beckett finally slept together, Lanie gets slightly obsessed with checking Beckett for early pregnancy symptoms. Part 3.
1. Keeps The Bad Babysitters Away

**I have come to the conclusion that I am horrible about updating stories and I need to stop that. But sometimes it's hard to get motivated so I just put it off till the next day. That needs to end. So I'm am starting this and, though I won't be able to at first, I'm going to try to write one, once a day. (In addition to any other chapters of stories that I feel like updating that day) There are some family issues that will hopefully calm down in a week or so, then I should be able to stick with my 'One A Day' plan pretty consistently. They will all be pretty short, but not all the same size. Since there is likely to be a lot of characters being seen in this little collection of mini stories, I'll put the characters/pairings, genre, and rating at the beginning of every story so you know what you are getting.**

**Many thanks to Christy for being my sounding board so I could think up this idea.**

**Characters: Esposito, Ryan (Not Slash)**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Ryan and Esposito face their biggest challenge yet. Diapers.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

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One A Day Keeps The Bad Babysitters Away...

Homicide Detectives Ryan and Esposito have faced lots of challenges during their careers, but this was by far the worst.

"Hey, bro, how does this diaper go!" Esposito yelled frantically as he tried to put the diaper on the squirming baby. They had successfully gotten the smelly diaper off the small boy, the only casualty being Ryan's shirt, but now they couldn't get a clean one back on him.

"Come on, it can't be that hard to put the diaper on..." Ryan said, dressed in a clean shirt, as he walked back over to the kitchen counter where Esposito was changing the baby.

"It won't fit right. Are you sure this is the right size?"

"That's the ones they left for us, let me try." Ryan nudged his partner out of the way, thinking it would be easy to secure the diaper, but five minutes later, the tiny baby was still butt-naked.

And then, with no warning at all, the little baby boy decided he really needed to go.

"AH!" The two inexperienced detectives grabbed the nearest kitchen supplies to shield themselves from the spray, vowing to never, ever, babysit for the Castles ever again.


	2. Keeps The Overly Helpful Employees Away

**I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but ideas for this collection of mini-stories are always welcome.**

**Characters: Beckett, Alexis (Friendship/Bonding/Mother-Daughter)**

**Rating: K+ (For mentions of feminine articles of clothing)**

**Genre: General/Humor**

**Summary: Beckett and Alexis run into each other while they are doing some shopping.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

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One A Day Keeps The Overly Helpful Employees Away...

Detective Beckett was casually browsing through the racks of bras at Victoria's Secret when she happened to look up and see Alexis nervously making her way into the large store. She waited a few minutes to see if anyone else was with the girl before making her way over to her, greeting the teen when she got close enough.

"Detective Beckett! Hi..." The older woman's sudden presence startled Alexis into dropping the bra and panty set she was holding, but Beckett just smiled at the girl.

"Are you here by yourself? Martha isn't with you?"

"Oh god no, last time Grams came with me was when I was fourteen and let's just say that is an experience I will probably never forget. This is the first time I've been here since then..." Alexis trailed off, feeling slightly ridiculous being nervous about being in a store.

Seeing the girl's nervousness, and remembering her own first experience being alone in such a store, Beckett tried to reassure the girl.

"I remember the first time I came here alone I was about your age. I was so nervous and jumpy that I ended up knocking over one of the display racks when an employee asked if I needed any help."

"Really?"

"Yup, and that wasn't the worst of it. The old math teacher I had that year had been in there shopping with his wife and the commotion brought his attention to me. I remember we couldn't look at each other for weeks. There is just something wrong about seeing your teacher in Victoria's Secret."

Beckett couldn't help but laugh when Alexis carefully looked around the store, making sure none of her teachers were there.

"Tell you what, why don't we shop around together? To tell you the truth, I still don't like coming here by myself. Mostly because if you are here alone, the employees feel like they need to descend upon you like starving vultures."

Alexis looked around at the overly happy employees who were eying her then turned back to the detective. "Deal."


	3. Does Not Keep The Meddling Ghosts Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Johanna Beckett.**

**Rating: T (For murderers/kidnappers)**

**Genre: Fantasy/Drama/Romance (if you squint)**

**Summary: Beckett has been kidnapped and Castle gets help from an unlikely source. Beckett's mother.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

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One A Day Does Not Keep The Meddling Ghosts Away...

Two hours. That's all the time they had left to find Beckett before her kidnapper turned into her killer.

Six hours ago Beckett had been taken from her apartment and all they were left with was a 911 call from the kidnapper saying that he had taken her, and would kill her in eight hours.

Two hours to go, and they had absolutely nothing. Not a single shred of evidence to even _hint_ at where he might have taken her, or even who or why he did it.

It was impossible to find her in that amount of time, with nothing to go on, and the kidnapper knew it.

Castle was trying to be optimistic, but the situation was not looking good. They needed a lead, a strong lead, right now, but it wasn't like someone was just going to pop up and give them Beckett's location.

He turned around with this newly refilled, for the seventh time, cup of coffee, only to have it slip from his fingers when he saw Beckett standing in the doorway of the break room. Or at least, that's what his sleep deprived brain thought at first glance, but once he looked closer at her, it wasn't Beckett at all, though the woman sure looked a lot like her. Just a little older and a little shorter and the longer Castle looked at the woman, he started to realize he had seen this woman before.

He had seen her picture before, clipped to the case file of Johanna Beckett.

"It's not her time, you have to go save her." Castle let out an involuntary squeak when the woman spoke, but quickly paid attention when she started reciting an address. He repeated the address back to her, mostly from habit, and the ghost of a woman smiled.

"Say 'hi' to her for me."

And then she disappeared. There was no smoke, no illusion, or even a sound. Just one second she was there, and the next she was gone.

Had this been any other time, Castle surely would have been excited beyond belief at having his first 'supernatural experience', but the clock was still ticking.

Thirty minutes later, the SWAT team was surrounding an old abandoned apartment building that was located at the address Castle had given them. It had taken a little while to convince them to check out the address, but since they had no other leads, and they trusted Castle, they headed out to the address.

When the Captain gave the signal, the team rushed the building, and within minutes, Beckett was being looked over by paramedics who determined that she was fine.

"How did you know where to find me?" She asked a little while later when Castle was escorting her home. "The boys said that you just randomly came out of the break room saying you knew where I was."

They reached her door and he turned to her with a smile. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Castle..."

"Goodnight, Detective!" He said, turning to head back to the elevators. "Oh yeah, your mom says to tell you 'hi'."

Beckett shook her head then headed into her apartment, clearly wondering if her partner had finally lost his mind, never noticing the ghostly figure watching her with a smile on her face.

There wasn't a day that went by that Johanna didn't miss being among the living, but there were definitely perks to being a ghost.

Especially now that she knew that her daughter's writer friend seemed to be from a long line of psychics and was easily able to see, and hear her, if she wanted him to.

Looks like she could still meddle in her daughter's love life after all.


	4. Ends Up On Page Six Eventually

**Characters: Ryan, Esposito/Lanie, Implied Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: General**

**Summary: Ryan is looking for Beckett, and Esposito knows exactly where to find her.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

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One A Day Will End Up On Page Six Eventually...

"Hey, either of you seen Beckett? I need to get her to sign off on something." Ryan said as he approached his partner's desk, coming to a stop next to the short medical examiner who was leaning against Esposito's desk.

"I'll give you two guesses, bro, and the first one doesn't count."

"Castle?"

Esposito and Lanie both nodded before Lanie spoke up. "Man, can you believe they still think that none of us know?"

"Oh let them have their fun, it'll all end up on page six eventually." Lanie and Esposito looked at each other and seemed to forget about what was going on around them while Ryan just stood off to the side with an amused expression on his face, thinking about a similar conversation Beckett and Castle had had about them a while back.

He couldn't wait until the day they all found out that the others had known practically since they each started dating, it was going to be hilarious.


	5. Will Keep The Castles Up All Night

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Fluff**

**Summary: Beckett has some news for Castle. He is in trouble, double trouble.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Bleh, it's hard to come up with these titles some times! So forgive me if they suck...**

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One A Day Will Keep The Castles Up All Night...

"Richard Alexander Rodgers." Castle tensed up as his wife's voice rang throughout the loft, knowing that she only used his former name when she was really irritated with him.

Kate Beckett-Castle had a right to be angry at her husband, seeing as he did something she specifically asked him _not_ to do on his three day book related trip to the West Coast.

"I believe we agreed that you wouldn't go crazy on the baby stuff until after my appointment today? So that we'd actually know whether to get boy or girl things?"

"Yeah but I was so bored! And they had all these cute shops! Look at this." He pulled out the cutest little panda footie pajama set and she could barely keep the smile from showing on her face. "How could I have said no to that?"

She didn't answer him, and instead started looking through the piles of clothes and other baby gadgets until she finally came to the car seat.

Castle watched as she picked it up and started checking it out, only to set it down a few minutes later and turn to look at him.

"Where did you get this?" Her tone was completely neutral, and he didn't know what to think of it. So of course, he took the safest route and assumed she didn't like it for whatever reason a pregnant woman might come up with.

"I actually picked that up here in the city, in case there was something wrong with it, or you didn't like it, so we could take it back. The store shouldn't close for another few hours if you want me to take it back now?"

"Get your coat." Confused, he went to grab his coat and pull on some shoes while trying to figure out why she didn't like it. It was a neutral color scheme, though it was a little on the girly side. Did that mean they were having a boy?

When he came back into the living room, he asked her that question and got a 'no' in reply.

"Then why are we taking it back? It's perfectly fine for a girl."

"I know."

"Then why?"

For the first time since she arrived home, she finally gave in and let a smirk show on her face before walking past him and patting him on the back.

"Because dear Ricky, I don't think it's possible to carry twins in the same car seat."


	6. Keeps The Bad Choices Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Drama**

**Summary: A gun pressed against her back makes Beckett rethink a bad choice she made.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Two parter! Don't freak out and have faith in me! Next chapter will be up tomorrow. Unless of course, the internet goes out because of the snow...Then that would be pretty bad for you guys...**

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One A Day Keeps The Bad Choices Away... Part 1

Beckett slid the key into the lock then entered the apartment she called home. As soon as she stepped inside, she _knew_ something was wrong.

Her hand slid from the doorknob and moved down to pull her gun out before she pushed the door open and headed inside, keeping her eyes open for anything.

She cleared the living room and kitchen, then moved into the bedroom. That was clear as well so she headed back out, that's when she felt a gun pressing against her spine. Where had he come from? She guessed he had been hiding behind the bedroom door the whole time.

"Put the gun down, Detective. Wouldn't want anyone getting hurt, now would we?" He pushed the gun more forcefully into her back and she carefully, and slowly, place the gun down on the ground and the man kicked it away from her.

"Good, now hands in the air so I can make sure you don't try anything funny."

She did as he said before asking a question, although she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I think you know exactly why I am doing this. You made a choice, a very bad choice. And now you have to deal with the consequences."

Damn, she was afraid that's what this was about.

He took one of her raised arms and spun her around so she was facing him. He pressed the barrel of the fully loaded gun against her chest, right over her heart, and looked straight into her eyes with his own unforgiving ones.

She'd made a horrible mistake, and she knew it was unlikely that she would be forgiven, but she had to try anyway.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Castle."

To Be Continued...


	7. Keeps The Bad Choices Away Part 2

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Drama?/Humor**

**Summary: A gun pressed against her back makes Beckett rethink a bad choice she made.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I really hope this doesn't let anyone down after last chapter. But really, you should have saw this coming if you know me at all.**

**(Sidenote: I got a few anon reviews for last chapter, and while I don't mind that, I'd really like it if you'd sign in so that I could actually send a reply and answer the questions that you have.)**

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One A Day Keeps The Bad Choices Away... Part 2

"It doesn't have to be this way, Castle."

"Oh but it does, dear Detective." He backed away from her, still keeping the gun pointed right at her chest. Beckett looked around trying to figure out if there was something she could use to get away, but the only thing nearby were two bookcases filled with books. She was considering tipping them over, knowing he would go for them, but he was one step ahead of her.

Castle took her arm and pulled her into the bedroom, positioning them so that her back was towards the bed and he was a few feet in front of her.

"Do you regret it?"

She did, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing, since he was just going to shoot her anyway.

"Never."

She smirked, and he glared before smirking as well.

"I love you, detective, but I just don't think I can forgive this."

He pulled the trigger and the sound of the shot filled the room as it hit her straight in the chest. Her body jerked backwards, and he just kept pulling the trigger until the gun was empty, each shot making her take a step back until she dramatically fell on the bed, lying completely still.

"You knew I was saving that last Pudding Pop for a special occasion, but you just had to eat it, didn't you? Well at least I know they will be safe from you from now on."

He left her there on the bed and she waited a few minutes before sitting up and rubbing her chest where the darts had hit, grumbling about how those stupid little darts could sting sometimes.

Beckett looked at the Nerf darts littering the floor of their bedroom and shook her head at her boyfriend's overly dramatic reaction to his missing Pudding Pop. Her eyes drifted over to the closet then back to the doorway, wheels already turning in her head.

Quietly, she got up and pulled out the automatic Nerf gun she knew he kept in there, along with a large ammo pack, and stealthily crept into the kitchen where she knew Castle would be sulking.

Payback time.


	8. Keeps The Pattern Away

**Characters: Castle, Beckett**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: AU!**

**Summary: AU! Special Agent Kate Beckett has to enlist the help of con-man Richard Castle to save her dieing partner.**

**I do NOT own Castle. Or Fringe.**

**Shamelessly plugging Fringe here. If you turn on the tv to FOX at 9PM eastern time and watch tonights episode of Fringe, I'll write a Castle fanfic just for you! Just leave me a message after Fringe is over and tell me what you thought of it.**

**Also, you'll only understand the title of this chapter if you actually watch Fringe.**

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One A Day Keeps The Pattern Away...

Special Agent Kate Beckett was a woman on a mission. Her latest case was a strange one, involving a plane where everyone was killed by a strange substance that melted their skin, and her boss was definitely keeping something from her.

When her lover, and partner, Will Sorenson was infected with the same substance as the passengers on the plane, she threw herself into the case, determined not to let him die. It took a bit of digging, but she finally came across a man who might be behind this attack, and others, or could at least help her understand what happened on that plane.

His name was Walter Bishop, a brilliant scientist who used to work out of Harvard, who had done some work involving the same things that had happened on that plane. Only problem is, he's been in St. Claire's, a mental institution, for 17 years after his lab assistant was killed in a fire and he was accused of using humans as lab rats.

So not only was her only chance at figuring out what was going on insane, but only relatives of the man were allowed to see him.

So that left her only one choice, to find his son and convince him to go with her to see his father.

Which is why she was currently flying into Baghdad, Iraq to find him, along with Special Agent Kevin Ryan.

"So this guy is Walter Bishop's son?" Ryan held out a picture of the man they were looking for.

"His name is Richard Bishop, but he changed his name to Castle a while back. He's a high-school dropout, IQ at one-ninety, which is fifty points north of genius. Misfit, nomad, hasn't kept a job longer than two months. He's been a wild-land fireman, cargo pilot, and briefly a college chemistry professor. He falsified a degree from MIT, and even manged to get a few papers published before he was found out. Sounds like a massive pain in the ass."

"You got that right."

They landed shortly after that and they split up, figuring it would be easier to find the man since they had a few of his frequently visited places to cover.

It didn't take her long to find him in the lobby of a hotel.

"Richard Castle? Kate Beckett, I'm with the FBI."

"Okay." He was confused, and a little bit paranoid, but he tried not to let it show.

"You've heard of flight 627?"

"The Hamburg flight, of course."

"You may be able to help us with that."

He gave a small laugh and tried to walk past her. "Oh no, I think you got the wrong guy." But she stepped in his way.

"Your father is Walter Bishop?"

"Last time somebody asked me that, it was an accusation."

"Well he is the man we are looking to speak with, but due to his current status, you are the only one who can provide us access." She was trying to ask nicely, but he was really making it hard.

"What possible help could that man be to you? And what is it exactly you are expecting me to do? Hop on a plane with you back to Massachusetts? I just got here, Honey." She had obviously hit a nerve there, taking about his father.

"I can have you on a return flight here in four days, but first-"

"Let me save you the time, I'd rather stay here in Iraq. That's how much I want to see my father." He turned on his heel and walked away from her but Kate Beckett wasn't through yet.

"I'm going to beg you, as one human being to another." He turned back around to face her as she continued talking. "Your father may be able to save someone who is dieing, someone I care about very much." They stood their staring at each other for a moment. She thought maybe he was at least considering it, but she was wrong.

With a sigh, he started speaking. "Sweetheart, we all care about someone who is dying." Then he walked away from her again. "I can't help you, I'm sorry."

She tried to be nice, but she was running out of options.

"I know why you're here." He turned around quickly, clearly affected by what she said.

"I have your file."

"Ha, what file?" He tried to laugh off how much that had shocked him.

"The file that the FBI would say doesn't exist." He shook his head, and walked closer to her. "And it has everything. I know where you've been, what you are running from, and what you need while you're here." By now they were only a foot away from each other and he was looking around nervously, so she pushed just a little bit harder.

"So either you come with me, or I let certain people know your whereabouts."

Castle looked around a little bit longer before turning back to her with a forced smile on his face, clearly not liking this.

"When do we leave?"

They didn't know it then, but this was the beginning of something huge.

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**Does the plot sound interesting? Watch Fringe!**


	9. Keeps The Flu Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Family**

**Summary: Alexis gets sick at school and Beckett is the only one able to pick her up.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**This isn't the really Casketty chapter that I was hinting at to some of you yesterday, I couldn't get that one done in time so that one will probably be tomorrow's chapter.**

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One A Day Keeps The Flu Away...

Beckett was just finishing up paperwork on their latest case, and waiting for the boys to get back from their road trip to find a crucial piece of evidence, when her cellphone rang.

"Beckett."

"Is this Kate Beckett?"

"Yes? Who is this?"

"Do you know an Alexis Castle?"

"Of course, is something wrong?"

"I'm the principal at her school, she seems to have come down with a particularly nasty flu virus and the school nurse has decided to send her home, but out of all the emergency contacts that are listed for her, you are the only one we have been able to get a hold of."

Castle had been going on and on all day about how he was worried Alexis was getting sick since she woke up with a cough this morning, but insisted that she was fine enough to go to school, so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear the young girl was sick.

"Her father is out on a small trip and should be back in an hour or so, did you want me to get a hold of him? Or just come pick up Alexis myself?"

"Miss Castle is feeling pretty miserable, but I know about you detective, and I know you must be busy so she is welcome to stay at the nurses office until Mr. Castle can come pick her up."

"It's alright, I'll be there in a few minutes to pick her up."

The principal hung up the phone a few minutes later and Beckett picked up her bag and jacket, calling out to the captain that she was taking off for a little while.

Traffic ended up not being too overly bad, so she made it to the school within half an hour and was soon leading a very sick teenager to her car. Once Alexis was securely in the passenger seat, Beckett headed to Castle's apartment.

"Your dad should be back soon. He was being especially annoying today so I sent him on a little road trip with Esposito and Ryan."

"That's fine. You didn't have to come get me you know." Alexis croaked out, before another coughing fit came on.

"It's okay, I was just doing paperwork anyway." Alexis' throat was obviously bothering her so they stayed silent the rest of the way to the loft. Once they got there, Beckett helped the girl up to the loft, and after using Alexis' keys, ushered the girl inside then straight upstairs to bed. Beckett made her take some medicine, then soon the young girl was out like a light, leaving Beckett to wait for Castle to get back.

She had left him a message on his phone for him to get whenever they got back into an area that had decent reception, but she knew he would panic and come back to the loft right away.

Thirty minutes later, Castle burst through the door, looking around quickly until his eyes feel on Beckett, who had made herself comfortable on the couch.

"Where is she? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, Castle."

It took a few more minutes for her to calm him down, and when he did he was looking at her with a strange tender expression on his face.

"Thank you."

It was just a simple thank you, but she could feel a blush rising on her cheeks, and knew she had to get out of there before one or both of them did something stupid.

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**Not my best chapter but I was having a hard time writing today since I've been feeling a little down in the dumps lately. **


	10. Is Only In Your Dreams

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: T (Flirting/Drinking/Cleavage) **

**Genre: Romance, Humor**

**Summary: Beckett watched as Castle waits for her to show up, not knowing that she was already there.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Still not the really Casketty one I've been talking about, I think it's a really cute idea and I don't want to halfheartedly write it. So I'm going to hold off on it for a little while I guess. I'm feeling better now (thank you all) but I couldn't write it today, and tomorrow I will pretty much be brain dead with "Knockdown" airing so... Maybe Tuesday! **

**I'll give you a hint though, it involves: Caskett, unsafe driving conditions, hotels, and sleeping positions. I'm just going to let you guys think about that now.**

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One A Day Is Only In Your Dreams...

It was nearing ten o'clock at night when Beckett walked into 'The Old Haunt', where she was meeting up with the rest of the team after doing an undercover job as a favor to a fellow detective.

When she walked in, she immediately spotted Ryan and Esposito chatting with some of the regulars, while Castle was playing bartender. Ignoring the boys for now, she headed up to the bar and ordered a drink. Castle started making her drink right away, without any comment, looking at the door frequently as if he was waiting for someone.

When he handed her her drink, then headed to serve the next customer with barely a word said to her, she realized that he didn't recognize her. Which wasn't surprising, since she had dyed her hair blonde and had it up in a hairstyle that she had never done before for the undercover job earlier, and hadn't had time to change it back yet.

Castle came around and refilled her drink, and she asked him why he kept looking at the door.

"Oh, um... I'm just waiting for someone, she should have been here by now."

She thought about that for a minute, wondering if maybe he had invited Gina along with them tonight, and he took the opportunity to tend to the other customers.

Eventually he came back around a little while later, still glancing at the door every few minutes.

"Is she your girlfriend, or something?"

"Wha? Oh, the one I'm waiting for? Only in my dreams. She's just a really good friend." He said when he finally realized what she was talking about.

He was back to looking at the door, and she decided, or maybe the alcohol decided, to test him a little bit.

He wasn't paying attention to her, so she pulled on her already low-cut shirt, making even more of her cleavage show before leaning forward a bit. She called Castle over to refill her glass again, and his eyes locked onto her chest, but he quickly looked away and at the door again. Deciding to push it just a bit farther, she let her fingers trail across the back of his hand when he handed the glass back to her, but he only gave her a polite smile and backed away.

"Yo, Castle! You seen Beckett yet?" Esposito yelled from across the room, and Castle replied with no little amount of concern in his voice.

"No, you don't think something happened, do you? She really should have been here by now."

There was a part of her that had realized, in the very back of her mind, that he was waiting for her to show up, but it didn't really hit home until then. He was ignoring a very attractive, if she did say so herself, blonde's advances because he was waiting for her to get there. She really wasn't ready to think about what that meant, so she decided it was time to make him realize she was there.

Beckett took her phone out of her bag and hit number two on speed dial. It only took a few seconds for her to be able to hear Castle's phone ringing in his pocket, even though he was quite a few feet from her.

He pulled it out quickly, and answered just as fast when he saw her name on his screen.

"Beckett? Are you okay? You were supposed to be here by now."

"I'm fine, Castle."

"Then why aren't you here?"

"What makes you think I'm not already there?" She couldn't resist having a little fun with him.

"Because I think I would notice if you were."

"Oh really? Because you've been glancing at the door every few minutes?"

"Wha? How did you-"

"Besides the fact that you just told me?" He didn't know it, but she had gotten up from her spot and slipped behind the bar while they were talking, and now she was right behind him.

"Because I _am_ here." She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, causing him let out a girly shriek and jump away from her.

"Beckett!" He looked at the blonde female in front of him in confusion for a few seconds before his mind started piecing together some of the similarities, finally realizing she had been there the whole time.

"Wow, you look so different with your hair like that."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I'm changing it back tonight."

His little show had drawn the attention of the boys, causing them to start teasing/commenting on her blonde hair as well.

It wasn't until later that she had a chance to talk to Castle again.

"So..." She trailed off, but it was enough to get his attention.

"Only in your dreams, huh?"


	11. Doesn't Keep Things From Changing

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Things weren't supposed to change after she got married, but apparently Ryan and Esposito didn't get the memo.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So I didn't do a chapter yesterday, but I think you can understand why. (Knockdown, OMG!) **

**Still not the super Casketty one, I'll let you know when I finally get it written and posted.**

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One A Day Doesn't Keep Things From Changing...

It was her first day back on the job after taking a week off for her wedding, and honeymoon, and she was already regretting marrying him.

The bad thing is, is that it wasn't even her husband that was making her regret her choice, it was her so-called 'team'. They were having a little bit too much fun with this.

"Hey Castle? I need you to sign off on this."

"Wanna go get some drinks after work with us, Castle?"

All day long it was like that, one thing after another. It was always "Castle this" and "Castle that".

But, she was doing good. She desperately wanted to shut them up, one way or another, but she kept her cool.

Until a detective from another precinct, that she had never met before, came by to give her some info on a case she had reopened.

"Are you Detective Castle?"

Kate Beckett-Castle let her head fall onto her desk with a loud thump, and a groan.

This was not supposed to happen, she was supposed to stay as 'Beckett', but apparently Ryan and Esposito didn't care.

_Oh well, _She thought, _we'll see if they change their minds when they are stuck on desk duty for a few weeks._


	12. Doesn't Keep The Morning Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Kate Beckett is NOT a morning person.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I actually wrote this for mysafewordis-pineapples (I think that is how it's spelled, but I cant look it up right now.) on tumblr, but she said I could use it for today's chapter too.**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Morning Away...

Kate Beckett stumbled sleepily into her kitchen early one morning, nearly having a heart attack when her brain registered a man standing at the stove, apparently cooking breakfast.

"Castle?" She asked, with no small amount of confusion and shock.

Castle just raised an eyebrow at her, then turned back to the eggs he was cooking, waiting for her to wake up more.

The strong aroma of coffee drifted over to her, and she decided that's exactly what she needed right now so she pulled out a cup and poured herself some coffee from the pot that Castle had apparently already put on.

She took a seat at the table and after a few sips of the life-giving coffee, the caffeine finally hit her brain, causing her confusion to melt away.

Castle had been watching her as she got her coffee and fully woke up, waiting until then to speak.

"Morning, Beckett."

He slid a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of her, and she accepted gratefully.

"Morning. You don't have to fix breakfast every morning, you know."

He fixed a plate for himself and slid into the seat across from her. "I know, but I want to. It's the only way you will let me show my thanks for you letting us stay here until we are sure that 'thing' is completely dead and gone."

"Yeah well, wouldn't want 'it' to get you in your sleep." She chuckled as he shuddered, thinking about the strange mutant rat 'thing' he had found in the loft a few days ago, causing the Castle clan to be out of a home while the place was fumigated to kill whatever 'it' was.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Castle brought up something that had been on his mind for a while.

"I always knew you liked your coffee, even during that first case we had together, but I never knew it was so essential to your daily life. We've been here three days now, and you're still confused every time you walk into the kitchen. Kate Beckett isn't a morning person, who would have thought?"

"Shut up." She replied, then added as an after thought when he got up to put his plate in the sink. "And pour me some more coffee, I'm going to need it."

* * *

**This has nothing to do with the story so feel free to ignore it:**

**Have you every said something to someone that seemed like such a good idea at the time, only to find out that it just caused more problems? I did that, just a little while ago. I really regret it now, but at the same time I don't? I'm not sure if I don't regret it, or I've just accepted it and know I need to move on and quit thinking about it otherwise I'll spend the whole day crying, and then when I have to see the person I caused problems for tomorrow, I'll end up turning into a blubbering mess.**

**So yeah, this has nothing to do with the story, just something I needed to get off my chest. I'm glad I already had today's chapter written, because I don't think I would have been able to write anything in time.**

**Excuse me while I try not to be depressed now.**


	13. Doesn't Keep College Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Alexis is moving out of the loft and into a dorm, but she's going to need some help getting her father to leave.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Did you like the last chapter? If you did you should go read "Where I'm Supposed To Be" by foreverhopefuloflove. She, being the awesome person she is, took the first two sentences of yesterday's chapter, and went in a different direction than I did. The result? Something that is Ah-freaking-mazing! Definitely a must read!**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep College Away...

When Kate Beckett answered the phone that evening, she wasn't surprised to find the younger Castle on the other end.

"Hey Alexis, how did the move into your new dorm go?" Beckett asked when she answered the phone.

"The moving part went great, though dad kept going as slow as possible to prolong it, so he wouldn't have to say goodbye. He seemed to be taking it pretty well though."

"That's great. I thought you were calling to ask me to come drag him away, but I guess he really has grown up these last few years."

"Uh, actually..."

With a sigh, and a roll of her eyes, Beckett gathered up her keys and jacket, heading out to her car.

"Sigh, I should have known. I'll get him out of your hair."

"Thanks so much, Kate. I don't know what I would do without you to keep him in line while I'm at college."

"You're welcome. So where is he?"

"He said he was taking a taxi home, but he didn't realize I can see a majority of the parking lot from my window. He paid off the cab and hid in the trunk of my car. What does he expect to accomplish by that?"

"There is no telling, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"You might want to bring Detective Ryan and Detective Esposito too. I think you are going to need all the help you can get."

"Good idea."

* * *

**Can't say I'm too happy with this one, I had a different idea, but I can't remember what it was so I had to come up with something else. And it's really hard to come up with something, and write it, when your little brother is shooting nerf darts all around the room...**

**On a side note: I'm feeling better now. Thanks to all you guys!**


	14. Keeps The Twinkies Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Mentions of deep-fried twinkie**

**Rating: T (Brief mention of sex)**

**Genre: Romance**

**Summary: Kate Beckett was in a horrible mood today, and Castle was pretty sure he had something to do with it, only he had no idea what he did.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Twinkies Away...

Kate Beckett was in a horrible mood today, and Castle was pretty sure he had something to do with it, only he had no idea what he did.

According to Esposito, she had been biting everyone's head off ever since she got there early this morning, and hadn't stopped yet.

Even when he had given her her coffee, she had acted like she didn't want to take it, but finally gave in and drank it. She thought she was being sneaky by only glaring at him when she _thought_ he couldn't see her, but she was wrong. He was painfully aware of every glare she sent his way.

Around noon he had finally given in and asked what he did wrong, but she 'politely' told him that nothing was wrong, and to go find someone else to annoy.

By dinner time, she couldn't take anymore, and left earlier than normal.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Castle?" Ryan asked the writer who was busy snooping through the stuff on Esposito's desk.

"Yeah bro, usually you don't stick around much after Beckett leaves." Esposito slapped his hand away when Castle got too close to his emergency candy stash.

"I don't want to go home yet." The two detectives raised their eyebrows at that.

"Family troubles?"

"Sort of. The deep-fried twinkie is in town, and more than likely at the loft right now."

"And that's a bad thing?"

Castle looked at Ryan like he had grown a second head.

"Uh yeah, that's a bad thing! She's insane!"

"Dude... Last time she was in town you were all over her. What happened to 'sex with crazy people is amazing'?"

"Um well... I've moved past that stage. Now it's more like 'she's crazy and I want her to stay as far away as possible'."

The two detectives shared a knowing look before turning back to their separate desks and doing what they are paid to do, leaving Castle with nothing to do.

An hour later, Castle was standing outside Beckett's apartment door, giant bouquet of flowers in hand. He still had no idea what he had done to make her so mad, but he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it unless he at least tried to make amends.

"Castle? What are you doing here?" She answered the door angrily when he rang the doorbell, causing him to think that maybe he should have just given her time to cool down before trying to apologize for whatever he had done wrong. But it was too late now.

"I uh, for you." He said, thrusting the flowers out in front of him. "I don't know what I did, but whatever it is that has you upset is obviously my fault, so whatever it is, I'm sorry."

She stared at the flowers for a minute before pushing them back towards him with a sigh. "Just keep them, Castle." Beckett tried to shut the door, but he quickly put his foot in the way and blocked it.

"Now you are really starting to worry me, Kate. What's wrong?"

She closed her eyes when he used her first name, but opened them just a few seconds later to glare at him. "No, just go. Go back to your twinkie of an ex-wife and leave me alone. I don't want to deal with you right now, not when you've been with her."

"What? How did you know Meredith was back in town."

"Alexis told me."

"Alexis told you?"

"Yes, we talk. Okay? Goodbye." She kicked his foot rather harshly so he would remove it then tried to shut the door on him, again.

Castle was completely confused, but he knew he'd never get any answers if she shut the door on him so he quickly reached out, with the hand that wasn't holding the flowers, and tried to stop her from shutting the door.

With turned out to be a rather stupid idea on his part, since she was very determined to shut the door this time, and was nearly putting all the force she could on the door.

There was no crunch, or crack, but the yelp Castle let out when the door slammed on his hand was enough for her to feel guilty.

"What the hell? You idiot!" She quickly grabbed his hand and inspected it, nothing seemed to be broken but he was definitely going to have a bruise tomorrow. Feeling really guilty now, she ushered him inside the apartment and had him sit on the couch while she got an ace bandage to wrap up his hand, and some ice in case it started swelling.

Beckett stood in front of him and held out her hand, she wanted to bandage his hand, but he handed her the flowers, with a huge grin on his face, instead. Rolling her eyes, she took the flowers and placed them in a vase before turning back to him and taking his injured hand.

She gently wrapped his hand up tight, and he took the opportunity to speak.

"What did you mean by that?"

"By what?"

"What you said, about Meredith." At the mention of the twinkie's name, she pulled a little too hard on the wrapping, causing him to let out an undignified squeak.

"Nothing."

They fell into silence once more, until it finally clicked in his head. She thought that he and Meredith were...

If she hadn't been right there in front of him, he would have started laughing uncontrollably.

"Let's just say I've gotten over my deep-fried twinkie cravings. She's only in town to spend time with Alexis." Castle said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"It's true, my tastes have changed over these last few years."

She should have just let the subject go, so that she could finish his hand and send him on his way, but before she knew it, her mouth was moving and the words were spilling out.

"And what are your 'tastes' now?"

He didn't even hesitate before answering. "Real. My tastes are more real now."

"Didn't know you did real." She finished bandaging his hand up then stepped back.

"You might be surprised. I can't even stand her anymore, which is why I've been hiding at the precinct most of the day, but I'm running out of excuses to stay away."

She was completely, and totally, ignoring how happy that made her feel, to know that's how he felt about the twinkie, and once again her mouth started moving of it's own accord.

"Wanna grab some dinner?"

"Sure! Anything so I don't have to go home yet."

* * *

**Relatives showed up halfway through this and they are very very loud and I couldn't really focus much near the end so there is no telling how this turned out.**


	15. Keeps the Goombas Away

**Characters: Castle,Beckett, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle invites the team over for a little New Super Mario Bros Wii fun.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Doesn't really matter but I imagined Castle as Mario, Beckett as Luigi, Ryan as the yellow toad, and Esposito as the blue toad.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Goombas Away...

"Castle, you idiot! You almost got me killed!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

"Dude, stop bouncing on my head!"

"Don't have such a bouncy head then!"

"You have the same ridiculously bouncy head, I should jump on yours."

"Nooo, Ryan! You killed me!"

"Wait... Let's not do anything rash... Ah, don't!" Ryan screamed as Esposito's character picked up his and promptly threw him into the nearest bottomless pit, effectively getting revenge.

"Castle, don't you dare..." Beckett warned the writer whose character was riding on a yoshi, and getting entirely too close to her yoshiless character for comfort. And sure enough, he did exactly what she didn't want him to do.

"Spit me out right now, Castle, or I swear to god I will..." He wasn't paying any attention to her so she took matters into her own hands, quickly reaching over and pushing buttons on Castle's wii remote, causing his yoshi to spit her character out. Right into a goomba.

"Haha! That was completely your own fault, Beckett!" Castle said as Beckett furiously started shaking the wii remote to revive her character.

She was cursing the creator of this game for allowing the characters to sabotage each other, until they came to the end of the level and she was able to jump on all three of their heads and land on the very top of the flag pole, killing Castle's character in the process.

_Maybe this game isn't so bad after all. _She thought, as Castle started vowing to get revenge for his wrongful death in the next level.

It was chaotic having four people play at once, but it was definitely fun. Even if Castle did get his revenge in the next level by letting her character get eaten by a giant fish.


	16. Helps Get Into Shape

**Characters: Castle/Becket**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle decides it's time to get into shape, and asks a certain detective to help.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Helps Get In Shape...

Castle moaned and groaned as he slowly dragged his exhausted and sore body into the loft, promptly collapsing on the couch. It had been a week since he had had this brilliant idea of his, and his muscles were _still _letting him know how much they absolutely despised this idea.

It all started when he and the team were trying to capture a murderer a week ago, they had burst into the apartment, and quickly found out that the person they were looking for wasn't there. As usual, Castle ignored Beckett's orders, and strayed away from her to go check out something that had caught his eye down the hall way. When he reached the end, he noticed the emergency exit door was slightly ajar, and quickly pushed it open only to see the murderer running away in the alley below.

Castle yelled that he had found them, but he knew the criminal would get away before they got out there so he did the only thing he could think to do, he chased after him.

A few minutes later, a very out of breathe Castle had the man cornered in a dead end. The man pulled out a gun, but Castle was expecting it and quickly hit him with a nearby garbage bag, making him drop the gun which Castle kicked under the dumpster.

By this time, Castle was imagining a scenario where he would quickly take down the murderer before the rest of the team even got in the alley, making him look like a macho super hero.

But, the murderer had about thirty pounds of muscle more than Castle and needless to say, when Beckett finally reached the alley, Castle was getting his butt kicked. He would definitely have plenty of bruises to show off in the morning, which he would have been fine with. He was a master of storytelling, he would definitely come up with a story that would have him sounding extremely brave and manly, saying how he held his own against a man that was much stronger and bigger than him.

If only Beckett, being only nearly half the size of the murderer, hadn't came and took the man out in two seconds flat. That's what hurt his manly pride the most, and that was what gave him his oh so brilliant idea that he was really, really regretting right now.

"Train me." He had said to her after that case was over. "I am now painfully aware at how out of shape I am compared to you guys, so I want you to help me get back into shape, and teach me how to fight like you do."

He had expected her to flat out tell him 'no', maybe try to evade the question, or tell him to have one of the boys to it, but she surprised him with her answer.

"Sure, be here at five in the morning and we can get started." She had turned away from him to go tell the Captain that the case was officially closed, so Castle didn't see the devilish grin on her face.

And now he had been meeting her every morning, for a week, at five am for their torture, er training, sessions, and he wasn't sure how much more he was going to be able to take. In his opinion, Beckett was having way to much fun dictating which exercises he should do every morning and was pushing him so hard so that he would have no choice but to give up on this idea of his.

But no matter how much he regretted ever getting himself into this mess, he was _not_ going to back down and give up. He wanted to show her that he could, and would, have her back during a take down, like a real partner should. She shouldn't have to be the man power in their working relationship, so if that meant he wouldn't be able to move after their training sessions for the rest of his life, then so be it.

Castle's phone chimed its text message tone from inside his pocket, and with a huge grunt, he moved his very sore arm to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone, seeing that he had a text from the devil trainer herself.

_"I have something to do in the morning, so we'll need to get an earlier start on your training in the morning, but that won't be a problem will it? See you at four-thirty! KB"_

It was official, she was definitely trying to kill him. And at this rate, it wouldn't take long.


	17. Keeps Castle From Sulking

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: General/Humor**

**Summary: It's Castle's birthday, but his friends don't seem to know that.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So apparently, I'm supposed to get like 8-12 inches of snow (which I know isn't much compared so some that people have been getting, but for us who has only gotten like 5 inches max, ever, it's a big deal) along with an inch of ice and they expect the power to go out, and since my internet has issues staying on even when the weather is nice, there may not be a chapter tomorrow, but I will try my best to get one uploaded. We'll just have to see what happens.**

**Meh, not really happy with this chapter...**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Castle From Sulking...

Today was Richard Castle's birthday, and he was sulking like a five year old.

He knew he was being childish but he couldn't help it, it was his birthday, but no one save for his mother and daughter seemed to remember it. And they only had a small celebration for him this morning before Martha went off to one of her auditions, and Alexis went off on a date with Ashley.

And to top it all off, Beckett had been talking to Josh on the phone nearly all day. It seemed like every time he wanted to tell her something, she was on the phone with him, and would quickly hang up when he got near.

By the time the team's shift was over, Castle was ready to drown his sorrows with a few drinks at the Old Haunt, and he was going to see if Beckett and the boys wanted to go with him, only to find out they had apparently already left.

Sulking and irritated, though he really shouldn't be, he left the precinct and headed straight to the bar. Not paying much attention to anything, he got the shock of his life when he walked into the bar and what sounded like gun shots went off.

He may not have any police training, but he had learned some survival instincts in the years he had been shadowing Beckett, so at the sound of the 'gunshots' he quickly hit the ground and did a sort of ninja roll to duck behind the nearest booth, peeking his head out to see who the 'shooter' was.

What he saw as his friends and family in hysterics over his reaction to their confetti poppers.

"Dude, you should have seen your face!" Esposito laughed, pointing at the embarrassed writer who was coming out from his hiding place.

He just stared at them once he got to his feet, and it was the Captain who finally spoke up.

"You didn't really think that we had forgotten your birthday, did you Castle?"

"Uh, well..."

"See, Gram? I told you we could actually surprise him if we got Detective Beckett to help." Alexis told Martha while smirking slightly, extremely proud to have finally surprised her father on his birthday for once.

"Wait... You were in on this, Beckett?" Castle asked Beckett, who was grinning happily.

"Guilty. I couldn't pass up the chance to pull one over on you."

"But how? You've been on the phone with doctor-boy all day."

"Have I?" She asked 'innocently' and he realized that she had played him easily, making him think she was talking to Josh when apparently she had actually been scheming with Alexis.

As his friends and family pulled him farther into the bar, he couldn't help but think that this year's birthday wasn't so bad after all, despite it's rough start.


	18. Should Keep Beckett Away From Sports Car

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett always drives. No exceptions.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So far so good, we still have power and internet. I'm not sure how much snow we got, because I'm not going out there to measure it. But there is a ton of it out there! Maybe I'll measure it when I drag myself out to gather some snow for snow ice cream, I love that stuff so much!**

**This is kinda based off the Canadian promo of "Lucky Stiff" but there aren't any major spoilers. Just something funny I thought of when I first saw the promo and a certain scene in it.**

* * *

One A Day Should Keep Beckett Away From Sports Cars...

"You know there is only one way we are going to catch this guy, don't you? We have to go to that club."

"Yeah sure, Castle. We'll just walk right in and flash our badges in a high class VIP club, it's not like that will cause him to turn tail and run before we even get in the door."

"That's not what I meant, I meant going undercover as normal club goers."

Beckett wanted to shoot down the idea on the spot, but before she could say anything, the Captain spoke up.

"I think that is a good idea, Castle. I trust you can get into the club?"

"Piece of cake."

"Alright, Beckett, I want you and Castle inside the club, Ryan, Esposito, you two are backup. Let's get this scumbag."

Poor Beckett didn't even get a say in the matter as the Captain had already retreated back to his office, most likely knowing she wouldn't like this idea.

"Come on, Beckett. It'll be fun!"

"You just want to do undercover work." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Duh."

"Fine, pick you up at ten?" Beckett got up from her desk and headed towards the elevator, intending to head home and get ready for tonight.

"Oh no, detective. In that ratty old car of yours? They might not even let us anywhere _near_ the club. High-class remember? We can take my Ferrari." She was about to argue with him, but decided not to at the last minute. Instead, she told him she would meet him at his place and they would go to the club from there.

A couple hours later, Beckett showed up at his apartment looking completely stunning, and after Castle picked his jaw up off the floor, they headed downstairs to the apartment's car garage. Castle pulled out the keys to unlock the car when she suddenly took the keys from him, jumping into the drivers seat of the car with a wicked grin.

"But...But..."

"I always drive. Remember, Castle?"

"But! But it's my car!"

"Get in, or I'm leaving without you." She started the car, grinning as it started up perfectly, while Castle quickly went around to the other side of the car and quickly got in, not wanting to take a chance that she was actually serious about leaving without him.

As soon as his seat belt clicked into place, Beckett hit the gas and zoomed out of the driveway, never slowing down much at all, causing Castle to cling to the side of the car for dear life until they finally made it to the club, coming to a halt in front of it.

"Wow, nice car."


	19. Keeps The CDC Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K+ (Slight mention of Naked!Beckett)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Esposito is having too much fun teasing Castle and Beckett about being forced into a decontamination shower together.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So slight spoilers for 3x16 "Setup" but only if you haven't already seen the new promo pics where it looks like Beckett and Castle are in a quarantine area. Of course this probably won't actually happen, but my imagination kinda ran away with me after seeing those pictures.**

**(If you were talking to me on twitter about this idea, this is NOT the story I was talking about involving Decontamination Showers. That one will be considerably longer and will hopefully be done by tonight.)**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The CDC Away...

"Say one word, Castle, and I swear to god I will kill you where you stand." Seeing the fury in the female detective's eyes, Castle quickly mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key, but continued following after her as they walked through the precinct.

By the time they made it up to the homicide floor, Beckett had calmed down enough to where she wasn't considering killing the FBI agent, just maiming him a little, but the urge came right back when Ryan and Esposito grinned at her and Castle.

"Yo Ryan, that doesn't look like the same clothes they left in."

"Definitely not the same clothes. Wanna tell us what happened while you two were gone, Beckett?" Ryan's question was answered with a glare that nearly made him cower behind Esposito, but he held his ground, barely.

Esposito knew he was playing with fire, but this was too good to pass up so he kept on.

"So what was it like being forced into a decontamination shower together? Any peeking going on?"

There was an audible snap as the pen Beckett had been holding broke into two and Ryan dove behind the nearest desk, leaving Esposito to fend for himself against the wrath of Beckett.

Castle slowly headed over to his chair and sat down, wanting to get as far away from the angry detective as possible because if she knew that the sight of her naked body, that he had got a glimpse of earlier, was permanently burned in his mind, she would surely kill him.


	20. Keeps The Big Hairy Spiders Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: What happened after Castle got the spider on him in "The Third Man."**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Big Hairy Spiders Away...

"What about a big, hairy, spider on your shoulder?"

"Yeah, that would do it."

Beckett just smiled at him and pointed at the large spider that was currently climbing up his shoulder and turned his head away from it, grimacing.

"Get it off, get it off!" Castle reached up and was about to knock it off his shoulder, but decided he really didn't want to touch it.

"Beckett!" He whined, beyond caring that he sounded like a little girl. "Kill it!"

"It's just a spider, Castle."

The spider continued it's merry way until one of its hairy legs touched the bare skin of Castle's neck making him squeal and making Beckett finally feel sorry for him.

"Get it off!" She calmly walked over and scooped the spider up with her hand and placed it in a nearby container.

"Oh thank god."

"Come on, Castle, let's go before the rest of the spiders that were in that cage find you."

"There were more!" He was out of the room before she even turned around to head out the door.


	21. Keeps The Evil Side Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis**

**Rating: K+ (Small swear word)**

**Genre: General**

**Summary: Castle calls Beckett when he fears that he is losing Alexis.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**This one is slightly random, but you guys should know by now that it's kinda iffy what kind of stories I come up with on Mondays (because of new Castle episodes) and Fridays (because of new Fringe episodes)since I usually end up forgetting about writing a chapter until late, or my brain is consumed with thoughts about the new episode.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Evil Side Away...

"Castle, it's late. What do you want?" Beckett said when she picked up her ringing phone and noticed the caller ID said it was Castle who was calling her.

"I think I'm losing Alexis."

"What now?"

"I think I'm losing her, we never see each other anymore, and we hardly talk either. She's been spending an awful lot of time at Paige's house lately, but tonight I tried to call her to let her know what Gina and I wanted her to go with us to breakfast at that new placed that opened up tomorrow, but she wouldn't answer. So I called Paige's parents but they said that she wasn't there, and hadn't been over there in weeks. You were a teenage girl once, what's going on? And please, tell me the truth. Even if it means she's been spending these nights with Ashley."

"I don't think you are ready for the truth, Castle." She sighed, knowing she had promised the girl that she wouldn't get involved in this.

"Please, Beckett. I need to know. I want my little girl back, but I don't even know what to do right now."

"You really don't know what's going on?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be calling you."

"You're right, you are losing her. She hasn't been home much because she feels like she is a stranger in her own house."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well from what I've heard, your ex-wife is all miss perfect when you are around her, but when she's alone with Alexis, she turns into a total bitch."

"...I know you don't like her, but that's going a little too far, don't you think?"

"Hey, those were Alexis' words, not mine."

"You're lying. I would have noticed if Gina was being mean to her."

"Would you really? Just think about it, will you? And when you finally break the spell she has on you that keeps you from seeing her evil side, Alexis will be waiting for you. I'm sure she is getting tired of sleeping on the pull-out bed in my living room." Then she disconnected the call, to let him think about what she said, and went to back sleep.

The next morning, Gina was sent packing and all was right with the world again.


	22. Keeps The Snowball Guns Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis (small mentions of Lanie, Esposito, and Ryan.)**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It's time for the annual snowball fight, and Castle has a secret weapon.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I've come to the conclusion that it's never going to stop snowing... We have a chance of snow everyday until Thursday... THURSDAY! It's only Saturday! I have never seen this much snow before in my life.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Snowball Guns Away...

"Okay, we have thirty minutes to build barricades, and then five after that to make snowballs. Ready? Go!" Beckett said and everyone headed towards their team's side of the field and quickly started pushing snow together to make a barricade.

It was time for her team's annual snowball fight, but this year it was going to be a little more fun, seeing as Castle and Alexis were joining them this year. They were split into two teams: Castle, Ryan, and Esposito made up one, while Beckett, Lanie, and Alexis made up the other.

They worked together in their teams and by the time the thirty minutes was up, each team had a very impressive barricade.

"Alright, five minutes!" Beckett yelled and each team started piling snowballs behind their barricades, getting ready for what was surely going to be an epic snow battle.

All too soon, the five minutes were up and the battle began.

Snow was flying everywhere as each team tried to get the most snow on the other team and it looked like the girls were winning, until Beckett started hearing a strange, machine like sound.

"What the?"

"Detective Beckett! Look out!" Despite Alexis' warning, Beckett didn't have time to get out of the way before she was being pelted with rapid-fire snowballs.

When the barrage of snow finally stopped Beckett looked up to see Castle cheerfully holding what looked like a top of the line snowball gun.

Oh he was going to pay for that, as soon as she got that stupid gun away from him so he would stop shooting her.


	23. Doesn't Keep The Super Bowl Away

**Characters: Everyone**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Super Bowl time! The guys veg out in front of the TV watching the game while the girls have some fun on their own.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Warning: Hallow has no knowledge of football at all and it's only because of Macahol84 and alwaysaGryfndor that I am even attempting this. (It was supposed to be more centered around the guys, but it kinda went off in a different direction after I accidentally deleted it and had to rewrite it.)**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Super Bowl Away...

"Oh come on! Seriously? Where was he even throwing? There wasn't anyone there!"

"Dude, did you see that?"

The collective groan the group of males let out could be heard all the way upstairs, even though the doors were closed.

"I can't take this anymore." Martha said as she dramatically threw the book she was attempting to read on the bed, and headed across the hall into Alexis' room, finding the young girl with headphones securely in her ears.

Martha walked over and stood in Alexis' line of sight, getting the young girl's attention quickly.

"Grams? What's up?"

"I can't take it anymore! Your father and those detectives are making a racket downstairs and I'm afraid that if I heard one more mention of the Super Bowl, I'm going to start shooting someone. Please come with me so we can escape from here?"

"Sure, where are we going?"

"I don't know, just somewhere far away from here. The testosterone in the air is nearly killing me."

Alexis thought about it for a minute before a smile spread across her face and she pulled out her phone and started typing a text message. "I might know somewhere we can go, but let me check."

Five minutes later the two women were making their way downstairs, trying not to gasp at the chaos that used to be their living room. Empty soda and beer bottles were lying around everywhere, along with various empty snack packages.

"Dad, you are going to clean this up right?"

As if they were one, all the guys who were sitting in front of the large screen TV on the couch turned around and shushed the poor girl before turning back to their game.

"Okay then..."

"Come on dear, let's leave before whatever is clearly affecting their brains, affects us too." Martha said as she guided Alexis out of the loft, very eager to let the boys have their fun as long as she wasn't around to hear it.

* * *

"I'm a Super Bowl widow!"

"You aren't even married, Lanie."

"It doesn't matter, it's just an expression. A very true one at that. I've been dumped for a football game." The short M.E. said, waving around the knife she was using to cut up some vegetables for the Italian dish that Beckett was making for dinner that night.

"It's just one day, surely you can stand to be away from him for that long. Hurry up with those, will you?"

"I...Don't know how to answer that. That's a bad sign isn't it?" Lanie said, handing over the now chopped vegetables to Beckett, who quickly dropped them in the dish she was putting together.

"That's so sweet!"

"Watch it girl, I'm not the one who mopes around the precinct whenever a certain writer boy can't make it in that day."

"I do not!"

"Oh you so do."

"I-" Beckett was cut off when the doorbell rang, and with one last glare at Lanie, she went to open it.

"You are a life saver, dear." Martha said gratefully when Beckett opened the door and let them in.

"No problem, I haven't gotten the dish in the oven yet because Lanie hasn't been very helpful-" Lanie interrupted from the kitchen with an indignant 'hey!'. "-so it will still be a little while before it's done, then we can start our chick-flick movie marathon."

"Sound great. Anything we can help with?"

"Yeah, you can take over chopping the vegetables before Lanie ends up killing someone with that knife." And so the females settled in for an evening of fun, leaving the boys to their super-bowl game, and the mess they had created while watching it.


	24. Vacations In Hawaii

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, everyone**

**Rating: K+ (for Lanie's language)**

**Genre: General/Humor**

**Summary: Beckett invites Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, and Jenny down to her family's beach house in Hawaii while Castle is away on a sumer long book tour. What she doesn't know is that Castle is staying a week in Hawaii, the same week they are. Or does she?**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Warning: Hallow has never been to Hawaii, nor does she have any clue at all what Hawaii is actually like. The place described here is probably nothing like the actual place, it's a fantasy placed dreamed up by a fangirl with an overactive imagination that is currently getting way too much snow and really wishes she could teleport to this place I have named Hallow's Fantasy Hawaii.**

* * *

One A Day Vacations In Hawaii...

Kate Beckett lounged lazily in her hammock on the deck of the beach house that her family was lucky enough to own for generations. The house itself was set on one of the many small islands a short distance away from the mainland, and was connected to the main land, and other surrounding houses, by various wooden walkways over the shallower parts of the ocean.

The sound of the small waves heading under the deck was a peaceful sound, nearly lulling the vacationing detective into sleep as she basked in the plentiful rays of sunlight, and the gentle breeze that kept it from being too hot. Until her phone started ringing, startling her and nearly making her topple from the hammock into the three feet of water below, but she caught herself just in time.

"Beckett?"

"Girl, you're on vacation and you still answer your phone like that?"

"Lanie? Why are you calling me? You're supposed to be on a plane right now."

"Do you even know what time it is?"

Beckett didn't even bother looking at the clock on her phone, opting to estimate the time instead. "Like around three?"

"It's five and we've already landed. Get your little ass over here and pick us up, the locals are looking at us funny and it's creeping me out."

Apparently she_ had_ fallen asleep for a little bit because the last time she had looked at the clock, it was only almost two-thirty. "Right, be right there."

She hung up on Lanie and quickly climbed her way out of the hammock, stuck her head through the open doorway of the beach house to grab the keys, then took off at a run down the series of wooden walkways to get to the mainland where the SUV she had borrowed was. She was just passing the house closest to her when someone called her name in shock.

"Beckett?"

"Hi Castle, bye Castle." She gave him a wave and continued on her way, knowing that if she didn't get to the airport to pick up Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, and Jenny soon Lanie might kill her for being later than she already was.

"Dad? Oh, I thought I heard you talking to someone out here." Alexis said as she came out of the beach house behind Castle, watching as her father just stood their staring at the place he had seen the detective.

"Dad? Hey, dad... Anyone alive in there?" She said gently tapping his head to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh sorry pumpkin..."

"What's up?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think I just saw Beckett run by..."

"Really dad? We've only been on this book tour for a few weeks now and you are already missing her that much? Come on, we only got here last night, let's go explore! It'll help take your mind off Detective Beckett."

"Right... Where to first?"

After a through lecture on the importance of not being late to pick up your friends when you invite them on vacation with you, Beckett and the rest of the group were in the car and headed back to the beach house.

"You know, an SUV isn't what I really pictured when you think of Hawaiian transportation." Esposito said from his position in the back of the van with Ryan and Jenny, since the last row of seats were full with the luggage they had brought.

"Yeah well, I knew you guys would haul way too much stuff down here, it wouldn't have all fit in the jeep I usually use while I'm here."

"While you're here? I don't mean to pry, Detective, but does that mean you come here often? And thank you for inviting me, by the way." Jenny spoke up, curious about the female detective she had heard so much about from Ryan.

"My great grandpa bought some land here a long time ago and it's been in the family ever since. My mom, my dad, and I used to come here every summer, even when I was in college, but his is the first year I've been here in a while though. And you're welcome, but please, call me Kate. There's no need to call me detective while we are on vacation."

"Says the person who still answers the phone like she's on call." Lanie didn't even give her a chance to reply to that before she started talking again. "So? Found Writer Boy yet? And don't even try to deny it, we know you decided on this whole vacation thing only after you found out he was going to be here for ten days while on this all summer long book tour of his."

Beckett glanced into the rear view mirror to see that Ryan and Esposito were both giving her knowing looks.

"As a matter of fact, I did."

"And? Was he shocked you were here?"

"I don't know."

"You, don't know?" Lanie gave her a look that clearly said she wasn't buying it.

"Yup, I kinda passed him on the way to pick up you guys."

"So you didn't even talk to him?"

"I said 'hi."

"Oh lord, I have my work cut out for me." Beckett didn't have time to question what Lanie meant by that because they were pulling up at the parking space and it was time to get out of the car and inform the group that they had to carry their luggage all the way to the beach house.

* * *

**Excuse me while I huddle in the corner and desperately I was in my Fantasy Hawaii as the snow starts coming down again outside. I imagine Wednesday's chapter will most likely be a continuation of this one since we are supposed to get 7-10 inches of snow that day and I will be desperate.**


	25. Doesn't Keep Esplanie's Revenge Away

**Characters: Lanie/Esposito**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: General/Romance**

**Summary: Esposito talks to Lanie after finding out that the rest of the team knows about the two of them being together.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Small Spoiler Warning (For "Lucky Stiff"): Nothing big, just the fact that Ryan clued Esposito into the fact that they all know about him and Lanie.**

**(Random Side Note: Hallow has Beckett!Shoes now! I'm so happy!)**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Esplanie's Revenge Away...

"Yo Chica! We have a small problem." Esposito said as he pushed open the double doors that lead into the morgue, finding his M.E. girlfriend running some kind of test for a different team's case.

"What is it, Javi?"

"They know."

"What?"

"They know! Ryan knows, and said that Castle and Beckett do too!"

"Seriously?" Lanie stopped the test and turned to give her full attention to her boyfriend. "How do you know?"

Esposito shrugged. "I don't know, Ryan and I were on a stakeout and it kinda just came up."

Lanie walked over and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "What do they think? About us?"

"They are happy for us."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, but they still kept quiet about knowing and let us continue sneaking around, I think that calls for a little bit of revenge, don't you Chica?"

Their friends were definitely happy for them, but when they find out what the two of them had planned, they might change their minds.


	26. Vacations In Hawaii Part 2

**Characters: Everyone**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: General/Romance**

**Summary:**** Beckett invites Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, and Jenny down to her family's beach house in Hawaii while Castle is away on a sumer long book tour. What she doesn't know is that Castle is staying a week in Hawaii, the same week they are. Or does she? Part 2.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I WILL NEVER TRUST A WEATHERMAN AGAIN! Remember how I said we were supposed to get like 5-7 inches of snow today... Yeah, uh huh, apparently they meant 5 inches, times 4. We got 20 FREAKING INCHES OF SNOW. Someone please kill me now, or at least come dig me out. Bring a blowtorch while you are at it so I can take out my pent up rage on the snow...**

**Don't believe me? This a picture I took of my car http :/twitpic . com/3y2e2b (Take out the spaces) Let's just pay attention to the fact that the snow IS NEARLY UP TO THE DOORHANDLES!**

**Okay, sorry. I just needed to get that off my chest. (I'm so sick of the snow...)**

**And one more thing: Remember FICTIONAL Hawaii here, I don't know how they do things or even what it really looks like. It's a fantasy place I'm calling Hawaii in this fic.**

* * *

One A Day Vacations In Hawaii Part 2...

The group finally got all the luggage into the beach house, and though Beckett had expected to see Castle on the way to the house, they made it inside without catching sight of the writer.

Once they were all inside, everyone collapsed into the nearest chair/couch they could find, complaining about the long walk from the car to the house, except Beckett.

"Maybe if you hadn't brought so much stuff it wouldn't have been such a long walk."

"It wouldn't have been such a long walk if you didn't have to have the furthest beach house. Not all of us can run around like super woman in four plus inch heels." Lanie complained, rubbing her feet and wishing she had worn more comfortable shoes before looking down at Beckett's feet. "You're wearing flip-flops! We've known each other for how long now? I've _never_ seen you in flip-flops."

"Yeah well, things are different here. I'm only wearing them because I had to drive, usually I just go barefoot." She looked around and noticed that every one looked a little less tired than they did and suggested she show them the upstairs so they could pick their rooms and get unpacked.

Great grandpa Beckett had built this house by himself, and with the hope that there would be lots of people using it, he made it big. The ground floor was mostly a large open area where the living room and dining room took up most of the space, with the exceptions being the kitchen, that was separated from the dining room by only a counter, a large bathroom,, and a small office type room that had a door and could be completely separated from the rest of the rooms. A lot of the ground floor had been remodeled over the years as technology grew, but the upstairs was mostly the same, with the exception of bathrooms being added. The upstairs consisted of nine bedrooms, four on each side of a long hallway in the middle and one at the end which was the master bedroom. Bathrooms were built connecting the bedrooms in pairs, while the master bedroom had it's own bathroom, resulting in there being a grand total of five bathrooms on the top floor.

It didn't take long for Ryan and Jenny, who opted to share a room, to pick one they wanted though it took Lanie and Esposito a little bit longer since they obviously wanted to just share a room, but wanted their relationship to remain a 'secret'. Eventually they picked the two rooms farthest from Beckett, Ryan, and Jenny so that they could 'unknowingly' sneak into the other's room without being seen.

"So, what do you guys want to do first?" Beckett asked once they were all back downstairs, and received a loud collective groan in reply.

"Come on, Beckett, even though you've been here for a few days already, some of us still had to work. Ryan, Lanie, and I all had to pull a night shift then get on the plane as soon as it ended." Esposito replied with Lanie and Ryan agreeing with him.

"Alright, alright fine. Rest up today though, because tomorrow you are getting out and exploring the place even if I have to kick you out and lock the doors." They agreed to that, excited about the chance to explore Hawaii, but not wanting to do it now.

"Will you at least get out for dinner later?"

"Maybe, but it doesn't look very promising." Lanie said, already heading upstairs to relax for a while.

"I better go pick up some things from the store then, enjoy your evening of relaxing." Beckett grabbed the keys for her jeep and headed out the door, letting her friends recuperate from their plane ride.

* * *

Castle and Alexis were cruising down the main road, in the jeep they were renting, when another jeep sped past them at a breakneck speed, taking every curve in the very curvy road easily, but that wasn't what left Castle with his mouth agape.

"Did you see that? That was Beckett!"

"Dad..."

"I swear it was!"

"Dad, we're in Hawaii, and as much as you apparently want her to be, Detective Beckett isn't here."

"But..."

Deciding to just let it go before his daughter started thinking about calling a mental hospital, Castle sped up a little bit and continued their journey to the only grocery store in a twenty mile radius.

* * *

**Okay, so not what I had planned for this chapter, but that's what decided to come out... But now we have a problem. Should I continue like this? Having random One A Day chapters be parts of this story?**

**Or should I start making it into its own separate story? I should do that, but I'm afraid that I would neglect it if it's not here where I have to work on it.**


	27. Means The Black Hole Is Here To Stay

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Parody/Humor**

**Summary: Crack!Fic The mystery of Beckett's closet is solved when Castle gets curious as to how Beckett has room in her closet for all the clothes she apparently has.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Incase I forgot to reply to your review, or you didn't get it or whatever, in regards to last chapter, I have decided to make the Hawaii One A Day stories into its separate fic. You can find it as "Ohana Vacation" and anymore Hawaii related ones will be added there, instead of here. **

**One of my main concerns about making it it's own story is that I would probably end up neglecting it so to keep that from happening, from now on I am still going to write something each day, but if I write on a different story, I'm not going to update One A Day that day. So you'll still be getting something everyday, it just won't always be a One A Day chapter.**

**This is completely blueEyes206's fault, we had a very interesting conversation at 2 in the morning last night about this fic, and I ended up writing it.**

* * *

One A Day Means The Black Hole Is Here To Stay...

"Castle? What are you doing here?" Beckett asked when she opened her front door one afternoon to find Castle on the other side, getting ready to knock again.

"I'm here to solve a mystery."

"And what mystery is that?" He didn't answer and instead just pushed his way past her and into her apartment.

"The mystery of your closet!"

"The what now?"

"Your closet. I saw it when you were in the bathroom one time and there is no way that little thing could possibly hold all of the clothes you apparently have."

"You snooped around in my closet?"

"No, no!"

"Good."

"That's what I'm going to do today." He took off at a run towards the closet, not waiting to see what she would to do try to stop him. By the time she had processed what he said, he was already standing in front of the open closet with a confused look on his face.

"There's nothing in here! You must be hiding it all somewhere else, but where?"

"Really? Nothing at all? Close the door and then reopen it." He was confused, but he obeyed anyway, quickly shutting the door and opening it to find a single shirt on a hanger in the middle of the closet.

He closed and reopened the door again, this time finding a pair of ridiculously high heels. Opening it again revealed a pair of pants.

"There is a time-space continuum in your closet! This is so cool!" He continued playing with the closet, revealing increasingly random things- a snowboard, a scarf, a lost sock he could have sworn was his, a living dog that according to Beckett had went missing years ago, a bowling ball- until he finally he revealed the most random thing of all.

"Josh!" Castle heard Beckett call from behind him as the doctor was revealed.

"Kate! Oh thank god! I've been stuck in there for weeks!"

"I thought he was supposed to be in Africa?" A confused Castle said as Josh took a step forward, obviously intending to go towards Beckett. Only he didn't quite make it.

Castle 'accidentally' shut the closet door before Josh could get out. The detective and writer listened as a scream came from the closet, sounding as if it was getting farther and farther away until it was gone completely.

"Castle! He was supposed to be in Africa but my closet swallowed him up instead!"

"Oops?" Castle said, trying to attempt to be sorry for what he had done, but finding it very, very hard. "How about I take you out to dinner, to show how sorry I am for getting your boyfriend stuck in a space-time continuum?"

"Ugh, fine."

"Where do you want to go? Somewhere fancy?"

"Not really, let me change and we'll go to Remy's or something. Anything else would be too much like a date." She said, pushing him away so she could open up the closet herself, revealing a fancy dress that she didn't even remember owning. Knowing that was way too fancy for Remy's she shut the door and tried again. This time revealing a different, but still extremely fancy, dress.

She tried over and over, but still getting the same results, finally resulting in her kicking and cursing the stupid closet.

"You know, I think your closet is trying to tell you something."

"Zip it, Castle."

She opened it one more time, revealing a dress that she was pretty much certain she had never, ever bought.

"I'll just go make a reservation somewhere while you get changed." Castle said, already pulling out his phone to make reservations at a classy restaurant, glad to know that even a space-time continuum knew that he and Beckett were meant to be.


	28. Keeps Laryngitis Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett has Laryngitis and can't talk, good thing Castle can easily figure out what she wants to say.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Laryngitis Away...

"What's that boss? Sorry, can't hear you. Think me and Ryan here will go get some early lunch, that's okay, isn't it?" Esposito waited for a minute but got no vocal response from the female detective. "Alright then, see you later."

Ryan and Esposito headed out of the bullpen, only to be stopped by Castle before they could get too far. "I'm going to say that judging by the very, very angry look on her face, that you guys should probably get some more work done first."

"Dude, come on. We've done enough, plus Beckett can't exactly _tell_ us not to go."

"Why not?"

"She's got laryngitis, can't talk." Abandoning the two detectives, Castle made his way over to Beckett. "Shouldn't you be at home, resting? You know, so you can actually get better?"

She gave him a pointed look and an eyeroll.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're fine so you need to come into work. But still, you could take a day off every now and then."

Another look.

"Oh don't give me that, I _know_ how many sick days you have piled up because you never use them."

A glare this time.

"Okay, I'll drop it. Anything I can get for you?"

Beckett made a gesture with her arms that Esposito and Ryan, who were watching this scene in amusement, didn't understand, but Castle did. "Coffee? But won't that hurt your throat?"

A deadpanned look.

"You don't care, okay, be right back."

It only took a few minutes before he was handing her a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

"You're welcome."

She gave him a look that he interpreted as surprised, and a little creeped out.

"I know, it is a little freaky isn't it? I just know you very well that's all. I can easily figure out what you would say, part of being a writer."

Eyebrows raised, she gestured to Ryan and Esposito who were still standing near the edge of the bullpen, having gotten too interesting in watching their interactions to realize they should have used that as a chance to escape for lunch.

"She wants to tell you that if you guys leave now, she's putting you on desk duty for two weeks, no field work, no interrogations, nothing."

"Okay, now that is really freaky." Esposito commented when Beckett turned back to her computer with a smirk, that having been exactly what she wanted to threaten them with.

Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't completely creeped out by the end of the day, since Castle had been extremely good at vocalizing what she wanted to say to various people throughout the day.


	29. Keeps Laryngitis Away Again

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle 'somehow' caught Beckett's laryngitis so now it's his turn to be the one unable to speak.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**This one is pretty short, but my iPhone came in today so you are lucky to be getting anything at all lol!**

**Is laryngitis even contagious? Oh well, if not just pretend it is.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Laryngitis Away Again...

"Dude, Castle has been really quiet today, you think she's mad at him?"

"I don't know...You don't think it's because of _that_ do you?"

"Oh now that would be hilarious. Guess we should find out." Esposito said, cutting their conversation short and heading over to the writer and detective duo, with Ryan following him.

"Yo, Castle!" Castle turned towards them with a questioning look but didn't say anything.

"Oooh, seriously?" Esposito turned towards Beckett. "How'd he catch that from you? You two weren't _that _close yesterday, but then again we don't know what happened after you two left... So? How about it? Did you two get up close and personal last night? Doing some smooching behind closed doors?"

"Don't you two have paperwork to do?"

"Nope, completely caught up, isn't that right, Ryan?"

"Yup, nothing to do unless a body drops."

Beckett noticed Castle's hand starting to twitch, a sign that he was getting annoyed or irritated. "I suggest you go find something else to do before Castle here decides to pass it along to you."

"Pass it along?" Esposito watched as Castle made a show of puckering up his lips and Esposito freaked and backpedaled away from the writer in horror. "Don't you dare, bro, don't you dare. I _will_ make you bleed... Nasty."

Castle smirked at him and opened his mouth to speak, before realizing he couldn't, so he turned towards Beckett and grabbed her arm to get her attention.

When he had her attention, he started making various gestures, trying to get her to translate what he wanted to say to Esposito.

"What now? You want to tell Esposito something? About...Elephants? No...Spaceships? No? That movement seriously looked like a spaceship though..." Beckett tried to keep an innocent and confused look on her face, while inside she was smirking evilly.

She knew very well what he was trying to say to Esposito, and could easily translated for him, but where was the fun in that?


	30. Keeps The Mini Becketts Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Lanie**

**Rating: K **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle walks into the precinct one day only to find something not quite right with Beckett...**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I know what it seems like at first, but it's not what you are thinking, just keep reading.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Mini Becketts Away...

Castle walked into the precinct carrying two cups of steaming hot coffee, fully expecting to find his favorite detective sitting at her desk.

So when he found someone else sitting in her spot, playing on her computer, he was rightfully confused.

Even more so when he got close enough to the desk to take in the appearance of the girl sitting at Beckett's desk. She was nearly the spitting image of Beckett, right down to the clothes she normally wore. The only thing that was different was that the heels on the person's shoes were a considerable bit smaller than what Beckett normally wore, oh and the fact that this person couldn't have been more than five years old.

"B-Beckett?" He stuttered, catching attention of the girl who turned to him with an expression nearly identical to one Beckett would be giving him right now.

"What, Castle?" The voice was definitely not Beckett's, but the annoyed tone was.

So he could only come to one conclusion.

"Beckett shrunk!" Mini-Beckett rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the apparently very entertaining game of solitaire she was playing on the computer, leaving him to try and wrap his mind around the fact that Beckett was now a little girl.

He was still standing there with his mouth gaping open when the sounds of laughter reached his ears and he turned around to see a group of people he had apparently not even noticed when he walked in.

His eyes took in the sight of the two male detectives, and Lanie, nearly rolling on the floor they were laughing so hard, then landed on the sight of Beckett, the non-small version of Beckett who was doing only a little better than the other three.

He looked at the tiny version of Beckett, then back at the normal version of Beckett, his writer's mind bringing up all kinds of scenarios- she had a kid she didn't tell him about, clones, he was just seeing things- but not able to think of one that really fit.

A few minutes later, Beckett was finally able to control her laughing fit long enough to walk over and pick the girl up out of her chair, turning towards Castle with a smirk on her face.

"I shrunk? Is that really all you could come up with?"

He finally snapped out of his shock induced daze. "What else was I suppose to think? She is like an exact copy of you, only smaller! Who, or what, is she?"

"This is Lori, one of Lanie's cousins."

"Lanie's cousin?" He looked towards the african-american M.E. then back at the little girl who was clearly not african-american.

"Her family is huge, and very...diverse." Beckett said by way of explanation.

Lanie finally stopped laughing enough to calm down and jump into the conversation. "It's true, we've got a little bit of just about every race there is on this planet. I've got cousins everywhere, some black, some Hispanic, and even some that are so white you'd think they've never seen a ray of sun in their lives."

"But, that doesn't explain the clothes, or how she knew me..." Castle trailed off and looked at the little girls clothes.

"Yeah, well..." Beckett flushed a little in embarrassment and Lanie had to finish explaining.

"Lori here has got a bit of hero worshiping going on right now. She really, _really_ loves her 'Aunt Katie' and wants to be just like her."

"Aunt Katie?" Castle asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"Not a word, Castle. Not a word."


	31. Breaks Rule Number One

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Lanie**

**Rating: K+ (For Lanie's mouth.)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Rule #1 of the 12th precinct's homicide division: Never, ever leave food on Beckett's desk, unless you are through with it.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Totally, and utterly random...**

* * *

One A Day Breaks Rule Number One...

Lanie had just gotten back from lunch, and since she had some time left on her lunch break plus the fact that she couldn't bare to part with her double chocolate caramel sundae, she brought it back to work with her.

She had intended to eat it in her small office, and savor every last delicious drop of it, but Perlmutter dashed that dream when he shoved a file in her face the minute she walked into the morgue.

"Take this up to homicide, will you? Your friends seem to think they absolutely need it right now, don't they understand that I do have other bodies to tend to?" He continued on but Lanie had figured out long ago that when he went off on one of this many, many rants, it was just best to walk away. So she took the file, and her sundae, and headed up to pay her friends in the homicide division a visit.

By the time she stepped out of the elevator on the homicide floor, there was a decent sized dent in her sundae.

"Hey Lain! Mind giving us a hand here?" Esposito called from his position by the murder board as he and Ryan tried to fix one of the wheels that had fallen off, only they couldn't keep it steady and figure out how the wheel had come off at the same time.

"Sure." She said, going to place her ice cream down on her boyfriend's desk, only to see it covered in various files and papers. Turning slightly, she realized Ryan's was the same way so she walked over and put it on Beckett's desk before walking over to help the two detectives with the murder board.

Realizing that they were disturbing the other officers who were actually trying to get some work done, Lanie, Ryan, and Esposito moved the broken murder board into the break room so they wouldn't be in the way.

What Lanie didn't know is that you never, ever leave food on Beckett's desk, unless you are through with it.

A few minutes after they had moved into the break room, Beckett came from the Captain's office and sat down at her desk, not even thinking twice before pulling the ice cream closer to her and taking a bite of the delicious chocolate treat.

She was only able to take a few bites before Karpowski was calling her over to look at something Beckett had asked her to search for.

While Beckett was busy with Karpowski, Castle came back from having lunch with Alexis and seeing that Beckett was busy, he took a seat at her desk to wait for her. His eyes were instantly drawn to the ice cream, and since he didn't have time to have dessert earlier, he carefully pulled it towards him and took a bite.

Castle worked on eating the sundae for a few minutes before Beckett came back to her desk, promptly stealing the ice cream from him and started eating it again.

He let her have a few bites before stealing it back, and they continued sharing it until it was nearly gone.

There was one spoonful left and they were arguing over who would get it when Karpowski got their attention by saying their main suspect had been spotted at one of his regular haunts and the writer and detective duo hurried out of the precinct to catch the guy.

The doors of the elevator had just shut when Lanie came out of the break room, having finally helped the boys fix the murder board, only to find that there was nothing but a few drops of her sundae left.

"What the hell? Alright, which one of you idiots ate my ice cream?"

Esposito came up to her and saw the nearly empty bowl on Beckett's desk.

"Oh you left it on Beckett's desk?"

"Yeah? Because yours was too crowded, I didn't want it to accidentally drip on anything important."

"You shouldn't have done that. Castle brings food stuff in here all the time, and Beckett started doing it too, so they automatically assume that anything left on the desk is something one of them brought and they have no problem stealing each others food, so it will be gone in no time."

"They steal each others food, huh?"

"All the time."

"That's so adorable!" Lanie said, already planning to use her next lunch break to leave food on Beckett's desk and watch what happens.


	32. Keeps The Spaghetti Monster Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "Only your daughter would have nightmares about a flying spaghetti monster." **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Morganista and nightowl89 are to be blamed for this...**

**I uploaded a chapter of Ohana Vacation yesterday, that's why I didn't work on this story yesterday.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Spaghetti Monster Away...

"'I will defeat you, you terrible beast!' The brave writer yelled at the beast before rushing at him, bravely dodging the beast's many hands that tried to stop him from getting close to the monster. 'Hi-yah!' The writer jumped at the monster, and with his mighty fork and knife of justice, he gobbled the flying spaghetti monster right up. And that, my dear, is how your awesome daddy saved everyone from the flying spaghetti monster."

"Ee! Daddy hero!" Tiny little, almost two year old, Emily Johanna Castle said, not quite able to make full sentences yet, when her father got through telling her a bed time story.

"That's right, baby girl." Castle said, tucking his daughter in and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Mommy hero too?"

"That's right, mommy is out catching bad guys all the time. And now it's time for good little princesses to go to bed. Goodnight, Em."

He watched his daughter start to fall back to sleep before making his way to bed to get some sleep of his own.

Castle slipped into his side of the bed carefully, so as to not disturb his sleeping wife who had managed to sleep through their daughters crying when she had woken up from a bad dream, about a flying spaghetti monster no less. So being the 'awesome daddy' that he was, he had gotten up and spun a vivid tale of how he vanquished the monster so that his daughter could get some sleep, and that he could too.

He was just about to drift off to sleep when Kate rolled over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Flying spaghetti monster, really?"

"Hey, it was her idea, not mine."

"Only your daughter would have nightmares about a flying spaghetti monster."

"At least she is creative."


	33. Is The Best Ride Ever

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis, Lanie (and her huge family)**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle plus Beckett plus bathing suits plus water slides equals Caskett summer fluff!**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Ahem, yes I'm aware this is late. It's half my fault and half the internet's fault. I didn't start writing this until like 9 last night, and then at 10:02 (Yes, I was watching) the internet went off and didn't come back on until just a few minutes ago.**

**And since Fringe is going to be on tonight, this is going to count as today's. (Yes, I'm lazy.) **

**But anyway enjoy this freakishly long thing that was supposed to be really short...**

* * *

One A Day Is The Best Ride Ever...

"Huff...Huff...I'm getting too old for this. Why hasn't anyone decided it would be a good idea to, I don't know, install elevators or at least escalators on these things?" Castle panted as he and Alexis carried the inflatable intertube up the long, long staircase to get to the top of the monstrous slide.

Alexis grunted in agreement and trudged on, fairing a little bit better than her father, but not by much since this was the only ride they hadn't ridden yet, and they saved the best, biggest, for last.

They finally made it to the top a few minutes later, and were able to rest while they waited in line for their turn. By the time they were settled in the large intertube, they were rested and ready to tackle the biggest water ride in the entire park.

Without a warning, the ride workers gave their intertube a shove and they were sent screaming down the slide, flying over a small drop off only to land on the main part of the ride that consisted of a large curved wall. The water pushed them up the wall until they were sure they were going to fall off at any moment, before they began their fast decent down the wall, eventually coming to a spinning stop at the pool at the end of the ride.

"Whoa... Okay, we definitely have to go on that one again. Preferably later though."

"Right, I don't think I could even make it up all those stairs again. Maybe we should go check on Gram and relax a bit?"

"Sounds perfect." Castle said as they made their way back to the section of lounge chairs that were set up by the large wave pool. They found her exactly where they left her nearly an hour before, stretched out on a chair, working on her tan.

The father and daughter team relaxed on the chairs for a while, but it didn't take long for Castle's attention to start to wander around, before settling on a very large group of people who had just walked into the water park.

The group was very diverse, he was pretty sure there was every race, and maybe every age group, except for there didn't seem to be any elderly people. And if that wasn't enough to catch his attention, the fact that they seemed to be breaking off into smaller groups of three to four children and one to two adults in each group, each group having their own colored armbands.

Castle watched as the adults arranged and rearranged their groups until they were finally happy before each smaller group headed off in a different direction. There were five groups in total, plus a woman with a small baby that didn't seem to be part of any of the smaller groups.

Four of the five groups headed towards the various rides, while the red group, consisting of one adult and three children, headed towards the wave pool, along with the other woman and her baby.

While they were separating into groups earlier, they were too far away so Castle couldn't really see much about them, but as they came closer he could see them more clearly.

There were three children in the red group, and if he had to say, he'd say they were probably around the ages two, six, and eight. He was just about to be able to get a good look at the woman who was obviously the leader of the group, when they turned to the right and headed away from him, obviously going to the kiddy pool, instead of the wave pool like he had originally thought.

The woman reminded him of Beckett in a way, and immediately his mind drifted to thoughts of Beckett in a bathing suit. He was in the middle of trying to figure out what type of bathing suit Beckett would wear, when Alexis interrupted his thoughts by saying she was heading for the wave pool. Deciding that it was getting a little hot, he got up and joined her in the pool.

* * *

"Aw man, I don't want the little ones! I want to go on the rides!" Malcolm, a middle aged man whined when the rest of the family tried to stick the littler kids in his group.

"I'll take them." A female voice spoke up from the back of the group.

"Really? You don't have to do that, Kate."

"It's fine. We just finished a hard case and I'm not looking forward to going on the slides right now. Maybe we could switch later on?"

"Sure!" Malcolm agreed quickly and the rest of the sorting was done quickly and soon Beckett was surrounded by a tiny girl and two little boys.

"Here." Lanie said, handing Beckett four red armbands, one large one and three smaller ones that Beckett quickly fastened to herself and the three children.

Lanie had so many children and teens in her family that anytime they had a family outing like this, they used the armband/group system just to make it easier to keep track of all of them. The more adults that could come to keep and eye on the children, the better. Which unfortunately meant they usually talked Beckett, who had been friends with Lanie since college, into coming with them and helping.

Once all the armbands were secured, the groups wandered off into various directions, most going towards the rides while Beckett took her group towards the kiddy pool, along with Marianne and her little girl.

The two boys quickly jumped into the shallow water of the kiddy pool and started splashing each other while the little girl hung back by Beckett, a little hesitant about going into the water with her cousins.

"Don't you want to go in the water, Rachel?" The little girl quickly shook her head so Beckett walked to the edge of the pool and spend a good ten minutes getting the little girl used to the water until she was happily splashing around in it.

"You are so good with them." Marianne commented from her place to the left of where Beckett was stretched out, relaxing in the shallow water while keeping an eye on the children.

"Well I've certainly had enough practice." She replied, referring to the many, many times she had babysat for Lanie's family during her college years.

"That's true, I think you, Lanie, and me practically raised some of these brats."

"Oh that is so true." They chit-chatted for a while longer, until Beckett, being the observant detective that she is, noticed Marianne looking towards the rides with a longing look.

"You know, I can watch Annie for you if you want to go help out the others with the older kids."

"Oh no, I couldn't do that. You already have those three to watch, you don't need to watch her too."

Beckett thought about it for a minute before calling Annie's name and getting the seven month old's attention and making a 'come here' motion, which had Annie practically clawing her way out of her mother's hold to get to her 'Auntie Katie'.

"See? She wants to be with me. Now go have fun, you deserve it." She said once Annie was securely in her arms.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay, but only for a little bit." Marianne took of to find one of the other groups and Beckett got Annie used to the water some more before noticing that the boys were getting bored of the kiddy pool and deciding it was time to go test out the wave pool.

As soon as they got close enough, the boys took off into the pool with the same enthusiasm they had for the kiddy pool earlier and she warned them not to go past a certain depth, but let them do what they wanted since she knew they were both excellent swimmers.

The pool was the type that was made to not have stairs, but instead just gradually got deeper the farther you walked into the pool. Beckett walked deep enough so that she could sit down with the water covering her lap and set Annie in her lap, to let her splash around, while Rachel was content to sit down next to her and splash around too.

Just a few minutes after getting settled into the water, the boys started fighting and she took her attention off Rachel to find out what the boys were arguing about this time. It didn't even take a minute, but when she turned to look for Rachel, she was not where Beckett had left her.

A quick search revealed that she had wandered off and was heading straight for a red-headed teen who was lying in the shallow part of the water.

Beckett quickly hoisted Annie up higher on her hip and set off at a trot, but didn't make it in time to stop Rachel from tripping and landing on the teen's stomach with a loud smack. With a small shriek, the teen sat up and Rachel rolled off her stomach onto her lap, giggling happily at the reaction she had gotten.

"I'm so sorry! I took my eyes off her for a few seconds and she apparently decided that was a good time to go exploring..." She trailed off as she got closer to the teen, and recognized her. "Alexis?"

"Detective Beckett?"

They didn't get to say much more before Castle was running up to them, not even noticing Beckett at first. "Alexis? Are you okay? I thought I heard..."

"I'm okay dad. This little girl here just decided my stomach looked like a soft landing place." Alexis gestured to the little girl who had made herself comfortable on her lap.

"Aw, she's a cutie."

"She is. What's her name?" Alexis directed the last part towards Beckett, and Castle finally noticed her presence, having been too worried about his daughter to notice her before.

"Beckett!" His eyes involuntarily scanned her form, reveling in the fact that he was right about her bathing suit choice, before settling on the baby in her arms. "Is there something you aren't telling us, detective?"

"And what if there was?" She watched his eyes get comically big, but then he noticed the armbands and things started to fall into place.

"You were with that huge group earlier weren't you? I saw how you all divided up like that."

"You were watching us?"

"I didn't know it was you! I was just curious... So? Who are they?"

"Lanie's cousins. Rachel is the one who seems to have taken a liking to Alexis, and Annie is the one I am holding. There are also two boys, Troy and Eric, over there, along with the rest of the group that are around here somewhere."

"Whoa, all those people are related to Lanie? I knew her family was big but, wow."

"Yup, amazing isn't it? And that's not even including the older people who didn't come today."

Annie decided that she had had enough of being ignored and started reaching out towards Castle so he would hold her. Not wanting to overstep any boundaries, he looked to Beckett for permission and after debating it for a minute, she handed the girl over to him.

Castle immediately swung her up into his arms and started making faces and doing various things until she was cooing and giggling like crazy. Beckett had seen him be a father to Alexis, but never like this so she probably could, and would have, stayed there staring at him if Rachel hadn't gotten her attention.

"Auntie Katie!" She ignored the grin Castle had on his face and walked over to the little girl who was still on Alexis' lap and bent down so they were eye level.

"What is it, Rach?"

"Show you!"

"Show me something? What?" The little girl stuck her hand under the water, and even though Beckett knew what was going to happen, she bent down anyway to get a face full of water when Rachel splashed her.

"Got you!" The little girl collapsed in a fit of giggles, causing them all to smile at her.

"Hi Rachel, my name is Alexis, can you say Alexis?" The teen introduced herself to the little girl for the first time since she had fallen on her earlier.

"Lexis!"

"Close enough. Want to learn a new trick? If you put your hand like this and put it in the water, you can squirt it from your hand." She said, showing the little girl step by step.

"Gah! Don't teach her that!" But it was too late, Rachel had already learned it and was soon running around the shallow water squirting everyone she could.

"You've created a monster." Beckett gave in and plopped down in the water next to Alexis, knowing that Rachel wouldn't want to part from her new found friend anytime soon.

"Lexis, look!" Rachel spun around and then sat down in the water really fast, creating a big splash.

"Wow! That's really cool!" Alexis humored the little girl and moved over towards her so they could be in a little bit deeper water and started a splash war with the girl who enthusiastically fought back.

"She's good with kids." Beckett commented when Castle gently sat down next to her with Annie.

"Yeah she is, which is surprising since she hasn't really been around that many little children, not since she was that little at least. Guess she just has a talent for it."

Seeing that their cousin had found a new playmate, the boys wandered over to join Alexis and Rachel in their water battle and soon there was water flying everywhere.

The kids were just trying to get Beckett and Castle to join in their water battle when Annie decided that she was hungry, and she was going to be fed right that instant or she was going to keep screaming until her lungs exploded.

Not wanting to drag the kids away from their fun just because of Annie, Beckett turned to Castle. "Would you mind watching them while I feed Annie? It shouldn't take too long."

Castle, of course, agreed and went to join in the battle while Beckett headed towards the lockers and used the key Marianne had left with Annie to open their locker and pull out a bottle of formula. It only took a few minutes to get the bottle ready and after she did, she walked back out towards the wave pool and lounge chair area, intending to just grab a nearby chair for now but as she was walking towards that area, she caught Martha's eye and decided she might as well have someone to talk with while she was feeding her.

"Detective Beckett, what are you doing here? And who is this adorable little child you have with you?" Martha said as Beckett gently sat down on the chair that Castle he used earlier, if the crime scene towel was any indicator.

"I'm here with Lanie's family to help keep all the kids in line, this is Annie, one of Lanie's many, many cousins."

"Hello there, Annie." Martha cooed at the baby but Annie was too focused on her bottle to pay attention too much else.

"I guess it's safe to assume you know that Richard is here?"

"Yeah, he's actually watching the rest of the kids I am in charge of right now while I feed Annie. He's really good with kids." She couldn't help commenting.

"He is, Alexis came as such a surprise to him that I didn't know how he would handle it, but he adapted extremely well."

"Ah..." She trailed off, not really knowing what else to say.

"Do you know what surprises me the most?"

"Hmm?"

"That he doesn't have three or four other children by now. He's been wanting to have more ever since Alexis started school and he realized that one day his little baby was going to be grown. Guess he's just waiting for the right woman to be their mother." Martha glanced at Beckett out of the corner of her eye and Beckett had her head tilted down, pretending not to have noticed Martha's glance.

Annie quickly finished her bottle and was happy again, finally taking notice of the actress who was looking at her again.

"Hello there, little one."

Annie cooed in response getting a big grin from Martha.

"Well aren't you just adorable? Come to Martha!" She pretty much plucked Annie out of Beckett's hands, not even bothering to ask permission like Castle did before.

But Annie was obviously totally okay with it, so Beckett didn't mind. It was only when a few minutes passed and Martha's fascination with Annie didn't go away that she realized they might have a problem.

"I should probably go make sure they aren't torturing Castle..." Beckett tried to hint to Martha, but she either didn't get the hint, or ignored it all together.

"Go, go right ahead, go have some fun yourself, I'll keep this little one busy."

"Um..."

And now Martha was totally ignoring Beckett in favor of the baby so she made her way back to the wave pool to see Castle chasing the two boys around while Alexis was playing a game with Rachel.

Being as sneaky as she could while wading through increasingly deep water, Beckett made her way behind Castle then tackled him into the water.

"What was that for?" He asked when he surfaced to find out that Beckett was the one who tackled him.

"Oh I don't know, maybe pay back for stealing the last snickers bar from my stash, again!"

"Oh good, I thought this was about your coffee cup... Oh, er..."

"Castle... What did you mean by that?"

"Nothing!"

She tried to think of anything having to do with her favorite coffee cup, but the only thing she could think of was that it looked especially clean, almost new recently.

"Did you break my cup?"

"No?"

"Castle!"

He took off running and she followed, tackling him once more before getting knocked down by one of the waves when they ventured too deep into the pool.

It didn't take long before she remembered that she had stuck Alexis with the kids so they quickly made their way back to the shallower parts, to see that Alexis had them all playing a game of 'marco polo'.

"We have a problem." Beckett said once they had both caught their breathe.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, your mom is holding Annie hostage."

"Oh boy. I should have warned you, she has a tendency to do that."

Beckett turned towards the entrance of the pool when she heard someone calling her name, only to see Marianne standing there, looking kinda confused when she realized Beckett didn't have Annie.

"I'll be right back." She told the group and headed over to Marianne, explaining that she had met some friends here and that Martha didn't want to let Annie go. When Beckett introduced the two, they hit it off really well and even though Martha was still holding on to Annie, Marianne was content to let her hold her while she rested.

With nothing else to do, Beckett headed back to her group and they played around in the wave pool until Malcolm and his group of teens got tired of the rides and came to relax in the wave pool, leaving Beckett free of any children for a while, since Malcolm's group wanted to stay in the pool.

"How about it, Castle? Up for a couple of rides? Or all you tired already."

Of course he was tired, but this was Beckett- and he'd probably never get a chance like this again- so he agreed to go with her, though Alexis opted to stay behind.

They went on a few of the good rides- that Castle picked out since he and Alexis went on them earlier- and they had a lot of fun.

Castle was sure he would have enjoyed it a lot more if he hadn't been so tired from the rides already.

Beckett was getting tried too so they agreed to go on only one more ride, which happened to have one of the longest staircases and walking distance.

They complained as they trudged up the path carrying the raft that was more like a boat than an intertube, and were grateful when they finally made it to the top.

The ride workers instructed Castle to sit at the back of the boat and Beckett to sit in the front, but it was small so she was basically sitting in between his legs, with a little space between her back and his chest.

When he rode this ride with Alexis earlier, he enjoyed it a lot. It was face paced and thrilling when you went up the sides of the slide when you turned the corner, and then of course there is the unexpected ten foot drop off at the end of the slide.

But this time, he enjoyed it even more, for an entirely different reason.

The workers pulled their raft into place, and once they were given the signal, they pushed them down the slide and they were off like a rocket. The speed that they were going forced Beckett backwards into his chest so that she was pressed tightly against him the whole way down.

The absolute best part came near the end when he wrapped his arms around her waist, despite her squeak of protest that quickly turned into a scream, as they plummeted ten feet into the water below, the raft slipping out from under them so that they plunged into the cold water together.

He reluctantly let her go so they could swim up to the surface and grab their run away raft before swimming towards the exit.

As they climbed out, Castle turned to her, all signs of fatigue completely gone.

"Let's do that again!"

Beckett looked at the long staircase, and long path leading to the staircase, and then back at him.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope, let's go!" He grabbed her hand and all but dragged her back up to the ride.

This was officially his favorite ride ever. He just hoped that no one ever asked him to describe it because he wasn't able to focus on anything else other than the beautiful detective pressed against his chest.


	34. Keeps The Trying Cases Away

**Characters: Beckett, Martha**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Family/General**

**Summary: When Martha finds out that Alexis can't go on a spa trip with her, she ends up asking a certain detective instead.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Mild spoilers for "Setup", just the fact that Martha is trying to get Alexis to go to a spa retreat place with her. (And the quarantine thing, but I think everyone knows about that by now.)**

**This takes place after they have solved the case, so technically it would take place at the end of 'Countdown'.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Trying Cases Away...

With a loud groan, Beckett reached out a hand from her place on the couch, where she had collapsed hours earlier and hadn't moved from, to reach her ringing cell phone on the coffee table.

"Hello?" She asked wearily, praying that she didn't have another case already.

"Ah um, Detective Beckett?" The person on the other end responded, and it took her a minute to figure out whose voice it was.

"Martha? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything is fine dear." Beckett let out a breathe she didn't even know she had been holding, still on edge from the horrible case they had just went through.

"Oh? Is there something I can help you with, then?"

The older woman was silent for a few minutes, just long enough for Beckett to start to get paranoid that there really was something wrong.

"Ah no, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even bothered you...It's just that Alexis has that test and there is absolutely no way Richard would go with me, and I don't particularly want to go by myself so Alexis suggested that I might ask you but I feel like I shouldn't be bothering you-"

"Martha." She cut her off, realizing that if she didn't, the actress was likely to keep talking all night long and she just wanted to relax after that case. "It's okay, you aren't bothering me. What did you want to ask me?"

"Have you ever heard of the Oasis of Serenity?"

"It's some kind of spa like thing, I think? I vaguely remember hearing about it. Why?"

"That's the place, they call it a 'spiritual retreat' and it's supposed to be amazing. I was lucky enough to score two incredibly hard to get spots there, but I didn't know that Alexis has a physics text that she needs to study for and won't come with me. So I was thinking maybe you would like to come along?"

Normally, she would politely decline, coming up with some excuse, but after the incredibly trying case they just wrapped up? She could use it. Nothing like a trip to the spa to get rid of a quarantine scare.

"Are you sure? You don't want to take one of your acting friends?"

"Oh no, dear. Any one of them would drive me completely crazy if I took one of them. I would very much enjoy it if you would come with me, if you aren't busy that is. Oh, and we'll need to leave tonight, or we might be able to make it early in the morning if we have to."

"How much time do I have to pack, if we leave tonight?"

They finalized some of the details of their trip and as soon as she got off the phone with Martha, she quickly called the Captain and let him know that he wouldn't have to fight her about taking the weekend off.

A hour, and many espressos later, she was all packed and ready to go.

* * *

"Well, looks like you found someone to go with you after all, or did you end up deciding to go by yourself?" Castle asked as Martha came down the stairs with a large suitcase in hand.

"As a matter of fact, I did find someone. Thanks to Alexis."

Hearing her name, Alexis came out of the kitchen where she was cleaning up dinner.

"Really? She said yes?"

"Surprisingly, yes she did."

"You two are really not making it easy to figure out who you are talking about, you know." Castle spoke up, feeling left out.

"Oops, sorry dad." She was going to tell him, but then the doorbell rang and she figured she'd let him find out on his own. "Why don't you go see for yourself."

"I will." He walked over to the front door, using the small amount of time to go through the list of people he thought could be behind the door.

But when he opened it, he definitely wasn't expecting Beckett to be standing there.

"Beckett?"

"Hey, Castle. Is Martha ready yet?"

"Yeah, I think so." Castle moved off to the side and let her walk in, still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that Beckett agreed to go with his mother somewhere, and the fact that they would be alone together and would most likely talk about him.

He wasn't really sure how he felt about that last part.

"Detective Beckett! Right on time." Martha said before gathering the detective in her arms for a hug, that Beckett returned with a laugh.

"I think you can start calling me Kate now, Martha." She pulled away from the actress and was immediately hugged by Alexis, who she hadn't gotten to see in a while.

"I'm so glad you two are okay! Grams and I were both terrified when they said you two had been put into quarantine."

"It was a pretty scary experience, I hope we never have to go through that again." She gave the girl one last squeeze and then pulled away and turned towards Castle.

"The Captain doesn't want to see either of us over the weekend, so stay out of the precinct until I get back."

"And miss a perfect opportunity to raid your candy stash? As if."

"If even a single gummy bear is missing from my stash..." She didn't bother finishing her threat, knowing that his mind would come up with various scenarios for her if she just left the thought hanging.

"Duly noted."

"Perfect. Ready to go?" She asked Martha who nodded and pulled her suitcase along behind her as they walked out of the loft.

"To Serenity!"


	35. Still Doesn't Keep Meddling Ghosts Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Johanna**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Ghost!Johanna is back to meddle again!**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Still Doesn't Keep The Meddling Ghosts Away...

A puffy-eyed Kate Beckett was surprised to find Castle ringing her doorbell late one night, holding various tubs of ice cream, after she had just had a very nasty break up with Josh.

Said break up had only occurred a few hours ago, and she had yet to tell anyone, so of course she was curious as to how the writer knew.

"A little birdie told me." He would say no matter how many times she asked him once she had let him in, and he told her that he was there to bring comfort food after hearing about her break up with Josh.

Even though she still didn't know how he knew she needed company, she was grateful that he came over, bringing ice cream and cheering her up with his antics.

She was, however, starting to doubt his sanity when she walked in on him talking to himself, for the third time, but brushed it off as they got caught up in a conversation that eventually led to them talking about their childhoods.

"You know, I wish you could have met my mom, I think she would have liked you." Beckett casually mentioned, completely missing the look Castle gave to an invisible form casually floating in the air off to the side of them.

"If you only knew..."

She looked at him with a confused expression but he distracted her with something else, trying very hard to ignore the form of Johanna Beckett floating around the apartment, watching them with an amused, and pleased, expression.

Beckett was wrong. Johanna didn't like him, she _loved_ him. Loved to mess with him, and his love life, that is.


	36. Doesn't Keep Alexander At Bay

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, 'Alexander' **

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Crack!Fic. Beckett's closet decides to have a little fun with the detective and her writer friend.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Yeah, random chapter is random. Might want to read chapter 27 if you haven't already to understand this one. XD**

**(Setup OMGOMGOMGOMG DEAD! And then the promo for Countdown! I'd be writing a fanfic if my brain wasn't so fried...)**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Alexander At Bay...

"Alright, Alexander, what am I going to wear today?" Beckett asked her closet, who she had recently nicknamed Alexander, mostly because it was being annoying and childish just like Castle, but it would be too weird to name her closet Castle.

Not that it wasn't weird to name a closet in the first place, but her closet was special. Or more specifically, the black hole residing inside her closet was special.

She took a deep breath and opened the door to the closet, seeing a full outfit- complete with scarf, socks, and coat- hanging alone in the closet.

"Good boy."

* * *

"I need something to sleep in." Beckett shut the door and waited a moment to open it, revealing a single large shirt hanging on a hanger.

"I was kinda hoping for some leggings too..." She muttered but Alexander was being uncooperative so she pulled out the shirt and started putting it on, before realizing it definitely wasn't hers.

It was a white and blue striped button down shirt, and while she had one similar to it, this was definitely not hers. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she'd be willing to bet that it was a certain writer's.

But that was ridiculous.

Deciding she was too tired to think about it, she slipped the very comfortable shirt on and headed to bed.

* * *

"It's going to get cold later this evening so I'm going to need a coat too." Beckett said, pulling on the suit Alexander had picked out for her before opening the closet door again to see a very large brown coat that wasn't hers.

Thinking that she had seen that coat before, she pulled it out of the closet and stuck her hands in the pockets, pulling out a wallet. Castle's wallet to be exact.

"Come on, I'm going to be late." Opening the door again revealed one of her coats and she quickly put it on then draped Castle's coat over her arm, after putting the wallet back, and drove over to Castle's loft.

"Here, I think you might need this." She said once she made her way up to the loft, handing over the coat to a very confused Castle before leaving for work.

* * *

Beckett stumbled into her apartment after a Girl's Night Out with Lanie, just drunk enough to be unsteady on her feet. She kicked off her ridiculously high heels and headed towards her bedroom, intending to sleep it off in her nice comfy bed. Only she didn't quite make it all the way there.

Halfway to the bed, she slipped on a pile of clothes she had left in the middle of the floor earlier- so that she would be forced to remember to do laundry- and started falling towards the closed closet door. As she fell, she was just sober enough to realize that her head was headed right for the pointy door handle of the closet.

_I can see it now: Famous Detective found dead in her apartment from apparently slipping on a pile of dirty laundry and hitting her head on her evil closet's door handle. _She thought, but before her head made contact, the door swung inwards- which shouldn't be possible since normally it swung outwards- and she instead fell into the closet.

She was just about to pull herself up off the floor of the closet, when the door shut and the strangest feeling came over her.

She was _inside_ the black hole. Now that was a thought that would instantly sober anyone up.

She felt like she was floating in the dark and she desperately tried to push herself in any direction, trying to get out, shouting the whole time.

It seemed like forever, but it was really only a few minutes before she was released from the black hole.

The closet door opened again and she was literally thrown out of the closet, flying a decent distance to land on an unfamiliar bed. And it's occupant.

"Oof! What the?" Castle groaned and sat up when something landed on him, and never in a million years did he expect to see Kate Beckett sprawled across his lap, on his bed, late at night.

"Beckett?"

"Castle!" Beckett looked up at him, just as surprised at where she was as he was.

"Um what..." Whatever he was going to say was lost when he turned on the light and saw what she was wearing.

Seeing where his eyes were, she looked down, seeing that she definitely wasn't wearing what she was earlier.

Apparently sometime during her trip in the black hole, she had been changed into a dress that was definitely not hers. In fact, it looked like one of Lanie's. Not just because of the risque style, but also because of how short it was on her.

"Oh for the love of..."

"Um Beckett? Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here? And for that matter, how did you get in?"

Now how in the world was she going to explain this? She was so going to kill Alexander as soon as she borrowed some clothes so she wouldn't have to walk home in the scrap of a dress she was now wearing.


	37. Doesn't Keep Lanie Away

**Characters: Beckett, Lanie**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Friendship**

**Summary: Lanie and Beckett have a Girl's Night after Beckett goes through a bad breakup with Josh.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Lanie Away...

"Get off your couch and find that sexy little red dress I made you buy a month ago, oh and those extremely cute pair of red stilettos I saw on the right side of your closet a few days ago. Put it on and do your hair, we are going out. I'll see you in half an hour." Lanie said, without preamble, when Beckett answered her phone.

"Lanie please, I don't feel like going out tonight."

"From what I heard about your break up with Doctor Boy, you need to get out, maybe have a drink or two. Or five."

"I'm fine, I just need some time alone, okay?" Beckett sighed and leaned back into her couch, really not wanting to go out, but knowing Lanie, she was likely to show up and drag her out anyway.

There was a moment of silence, and Beckett was starting to think that Lanie had just given up and started to head over to her apartment, when she finally spoke again.

"You really don't want to go out? Get some drinks at our favorite bar? Maybe do some karaoke?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

The words 'That's it?' where on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back and thanked her friend instead.

They hung up a few minutes later and Beckett was extremely grateful, but slightly suspicious, that Lanie had backed down so easily.

She didn't want to do anything after that horrible break up, that wouldn't have been as bad if it hadn't happened right smack dab in the middle of the precinct.

She settled into her couch, with the remote in hand, for twenty minutes before her door bell rang.

When she opened it up, she wasn't surprised to see Lanie on the other side.

She was, however, surprised to see that Lanie was dressed in what looked like an over-sized t-shirt and pajama pants.

"You want me to get dressed, and you are planning to go out in that? Something is wrong with this picture."

"You said you didn't want to go out, so we are staying in." She said, pushing past the detective and heading into the kitchen to put the ice cream she had brought into the freezer.

"Okay?" Beckett said confused as Lanie started pulling out various movies and junk food from the large sack she was carrying.

"Living room, now." Lanie ordered, literally pushing Beckett into the living room and making her sit on the couch before popping in a comedy that she was sure would have them both laughing like crazy by the end of it.

As they spent most of the night giggling and acting like teenagers, Beckett came to realize that Lanie was right, this was much better than spending her night sulking.

* * *

Later that night, Beckett was just about to slam the pillow down on Lanie's head, when Lanie whipped her phone out of nowhere, and snapped a picture of Beckett in the middle of their pillow fight.

"The great Kate Beckett having a pillow fight. I know a certain writer who would just _love _to see this."

"You wouldn't."

"I would." Beckett launched herself across the living room and tried to snatch the phone away, but Lanie was quicker.

"Oh, would you look at that. While dodging you I must have accidentally scrolled down my contacts, found writer boy's number, and sent it to him. All on accident. Oops?"

"Lanie!"

She was praying that a miracle would happen, that maybe it wouldn't get sent to him for one reason or another, but when she heard her text message tone go off, she knew he had seen it.

"_Can I join in? Pretty please? I'm a pretty mean pillow thrower, I'll even wear the same short shorts and camisole as you, if I have to."_

After reading the message, she became acutely aware of just how much skin she was showing in her really short shorts and thin camisole top.

Oh yes, she was going to have to get revenge on Lanie.

* * *

The next day, Javier Esposito nearly choked on his coffee when he got a picture of Lanie from Beckett, deciding he needed to be extremely nice to Beckett for a while for giving him such good blackmail material.


	38. Keeps The Bomb Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: T (For Fallon's mouth)**

**Genre: Suspense/Romance**

**Summary: Slight Spoilers For Countdown: Castle and Beckett have to disarm a bomb, with only Agent Fallon as their guide.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**WARNING: Hallow has no idea how to actually diffuse a bomb. I completely and totally made this up, so it's most likely not what actually happens to diffuse a bomb like this.**

**Also, this isn't what I expect to happen in Countdown, but I thought it was a cool idea.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Bomb Away...

_How do we always manage to get into these messes? _Beckett thought to herself as she pulled off the lid of a crate and found the bomb inside of it.

They had just narrowly survived the freezer incident, and now they were facing a bomb. And the worst part? They were alone again. They had been kicked off the case for the second time, and had done some detecting on their own.

Obviously, they didn't learn their lesson the first time.

The bomb itself was in a secluded location, but they weren't sure how far the radiation would spread, so it would still be very, very deadly if it exploded.

So with five minutes left, she pulled out her phone and called Fallon.

"I don't have time for this right now!" He yelled angrily when he answered the phone, not knowing who was calling.

"Any idea how to diffuse a bomb?"

"Beckett?"

"And Castle, we found the bomb. It's in an out of the way place, but if the dispersal rate is even half of what your tech guys believe, it will easily reach a lot of people."

"Dammit!" He let out a very, very long string of curses before finally speaking to Beckett again. "You are going to have to do everything exactly as I say. I hope to god you have scissors in your car."

"I do."

"Good, if you have more than one pair, that's even better."

She popped the trunk of her car and reached into the tool box she kept in there for emergencies, pulling out two pairs of scissors, then shutting the trunk and handing the keys to Castle.

"Go, get as far away from here as you can."

He looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "I'm not leaving you here to do this by yourself, Kate."

"There is nothing you can do here, even if you take off now you might still be hit by the radiation if I can't stop it in time, but at least there will be less damage. Go!"

"I won't."

"Rick, please, we are running out of time."

"Actually," Fallon's voice started from the phone she had turned on speaker before she had grabbed the scissors. "He can help. It will be easier if you both disarm it."

"See? Okay, what do we do?" Castle said, taking pair of scissors from Beckett and heading over to the bomb with her following until they were standing in front of it.

"There should be a panel, not the one with the timer, but a different one, do you see it?"

"Yeah, it's on the right side."

"Carefully pry off the top of it and you should see a bunch of wires and computer chips." Beckett did as Fallon said and looked warily at all the wires and stuff.

"Okay, listen carefully you need to..." He told them step by step what to do, and they each took turns cutting a wire or pulling out a microchip, until there was only a minute remaining and only a few wires were left.

"If you followed the directions right, please god, you should each be holding a severed wire, correct?"

"Yes." They said at the same time.

"This is it. You are going to need to touch the open ends of those wires together. If you did it right, the bomb will lose its power. If not, it will explode the second those wires touch. I'm sorry, you two have to do this. No one else will be able to get there in time. You two have been major pains in my ass ever since I got this case, but I have to say, you two do some damn fine work."

"Thank you, you aren't as bad as we thought either." Beckett replied then turned her attention to Castle, who was trying to look calm, and failing badly.

"Ready, Castle?"

"As I'll ever be."

They were kneeling on the ground by the bomb with very little space between them. Beckett closed her eyes for a moment, and Castle thought she was going to touch her wire to the one he was holding, but instead she kept her hand still and leaned her body towards him until her lips touched his.

It was a gentle kiss, one that only lasted a few seconds before she pulled back slightly and opened her eyes, waiting until he did the same, hoping he would understand.

And he did. At least their last moments would be enjoyable.

He gave a slight nod and then placed his lips on hers, deepening the kiss, trying to show her just how he felt in one kiss.

When she felt the tip of his tongue touch her lips, asking for entrance, she parted her lips and let him in.

_What a way to go._ They both thought at the same time as their lips were moving frantically over each other.

And then Beckett moved her hand forward and touched her wire to his.

* * *

Agent Fallon pulled his phone away from his ear to look at it when it let off a shrill sound, signaling that it was four o'clock and time was up.

"Beckett! Castle! What's going on?" He barked into the phone when there was just silence on the other end and then switched it to speaker so the other occupants of the car could hear.

There was a tense moment of silence before there was a rustling noise and finally, a voice.

"The timer is off. I think we are in the clear." Beckett said and Ryan, Esposito, and the Captain all let out a sigh of relief at hearing they were okay.

"Good job, I'll get the hazmat team out there to get rid of the Cobalt sixteen, stay with the bomb, but not too close to it just in case."

"Will do."


	39. Doesn't Keep Matching Costumes Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It's time for Castle's Halloween party, and Beckett doesn't know it, but he is going to like her costume choice a lot.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Those of you who have watched Stana in The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice will probably find her outfit in this fic very familiar.**

**

* * *

**

One A Day Doesn't Keep Matching Costumes Away...

"Lanie? What's up?" Beckett asked when she saw Lanie's name show up on her ringing phone as she relaxed on her couch with a good book, prepared to spend the whole evening doing nothing but relaxing.

"Girl! Where are you at?"

"Home? Where am I supposed to be?"

"You...Ugh, you don't even know what day it is, do you?"

It honestly took her a minute to figure out what day it was. "Wednesday the thirty-first?"

"Yes, but more importantly, it's eight o'clock on Halloween night. Does that help jog that memory of yours?"

"Shoot! I forgot! I'll be there as soon as possible!" Beckett hung up the phone on her friend and ran quickly to dig in her closet, hoping to god there was an old Halloween costume hidden in there somewhere because she had forgotten to go out and buy one, even though she had promised Castle she would actually be at his party this year.

She went through box after box, until she finally came up with a pair of realistic looking vampire fangs.

"This will have to do..." She mumbled, looking through her closet some more, this time looking for clothes she could use to pass as a vampire.

Reaching all the way to the back of the closet, she found a dress that she absolutely loved, but didn't get the chance to wear much.

It was a knee-length black dress made out of a type of lightweight satin material, but what she loved the most about it, was that it looked a lot like a trench coat.

Quickly stripping out of the clothes she was wearing, she pulled the dress over her head and secured the belt so that it scrunched the fabric perfectly right under her chest, making the plunging neckline show off just the right amount of skin.

Walking over to her dresser she pulled out a pair of black tights and slipped them on before going back to the closet and grabbing a pair of black ankle boots to complete the outfit. She didn't have much time, since she didn't want to be later than she already was, so she quickly glued in the fangs and then used some mouse on her hair and applied eyeliner to her eyes to give her a wild look and she was ready to go.

As quick as New York traffic would allow, she drove over to Castle's loft and was quickly let in by Martha, who started grinning as soon as she saw that Beckett was dressed as a vampire.

"Come in, dear, Richard was about to give up hope that you were coming. He's going to be _very _happy to see you."

"Um yeah, sorry I'm late." She said as she walked past Martha into the living room full of people.

"That's alright, you are here and that's all that matters. I'll go find Richard and let him know you are here." Martha left her alone, but that didn't last long as Lanie spotted her and rushed over.

"And just what are you supposed to be?" Instead of answering, Beckett just grinned, showing off the fangs.

"You forgot to get a costume didn't you?" Even with the pirate eye-patch covering one of her eyes, Lanie still manged to give Beckett a look that clearly said she knew she was right, and then her face broke out into a wide grin.

"I've been busy, okay? What's wrong with being a vampire?"

Lanie didn't have time to reply to that before Castle was calling Beckett's name and Beckett turned away from her friend to see both Castle and Alexis making their way towards her.

And then she realized why Lanie and Martha had both been grinning like idiots.

"Well would you look at that? A daddy vampire, a child vampire, and now a mommy vampire, we have a complete family of vampires!" Lanie said, loud enough for everyone to hear and turn towards the three who looked like they had coordinated their costumes to match.

As Esposito and Ryan joined in on the teasing, Beckett resisted the urge to bang her head against the nearest wall and vowed to buy her costume ahead of time next year.


	40. Keeps The Book Signings Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett loses a bet against Castle, and now it's time to pay the price.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Book Signings Away...

"Castle, do I really have to do this?"

"Yup! You lost the bet, time to pay the price."

"But why did you have to pick this?"

"You never know, you might like it. It could be really fun!"

"Fun for you maybe."

"Yeah, that's true. This time will definitely be a lot more interesting than all the other times I've done it."

"Ugh-"

"Nuh uh, no more griping, it's time to go. You'll be fine. All you have to do is sign Nikki's name."

Despite her protests, Castle pushed Beckett through the door and into the main lobby of a book store, where a signing for the latest 'Nikki Heat' book was about to take place.

As soon as the massive group of people caught sight of her, they went nuts with shouts of 'It's Nikki!' and 'Nikki Heat is here too?'.

Castle steered her towards the table and they sat down next to each other in front of the lines of people. Beckett bit back a groan as Castle started signing books, knowing that she was going to have to sit there with nothing to do- Who would want 'Nikki's' autograph?- for the many, many hours it would take to go through all the people.

Hours later, Beckett signed 'Nikki Heat' for the thousandth time and rubbed her sore hand, wishing that she had gotten to just sit there and do nothing.

Who knew most of them actually wanted her to sign their books too?


	41. Keeps The JellyFilled Bear Claws Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: T (For mentions of Blood)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Crack!Fic Vampire!Beckett. Beckett won't let Castle taste her specially made 'jelly' filled bear claws, and now he knows why.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**WARNING! THIS IS A CRACK!FIC WITH VAMPIRES! IT INVOLVES BLOOD. You have been warned.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Jelly-Filled Bear Claws Away...

Castle looked around the deserted bullpen late one night as he carefully unlocked the bottom drawer of Beckett's desk, pulling out a bag containing a single jelly-filled bear claw.

Every so often, Beckett would bring a bag of bear claws to the precinct, and hoarded them for herself. She had brought them a total five times, and he had yet to get a single taste of them.

Now that was about to change.

Another quick look around revealed that Beckett was still in the restroom, so he quickly pulled out the pastry and was just about to take a bite out of it when Beckett walked into the bullpen, a look of horror on her face when she realized what he had in his hands.

"Castle!" She yelled, and making a split second suggestion, he bit down on the pastry.

And immediately regretted doing it.

As soon as the 'jelly' filling hit his tongue, he started gagging and instantly, Beckett was by his side, handing him a napkin to spit it out in, along with his coffee to wash the taste out of his mouth with.

He took the napkin gratefully and spit out the piece he had bitten off, quickly throwing it in the trash then using another napkin to wipe off his tongue before taking a big gulp of coffee.

That he nearly choked on when he saw how _bloody_ the napkin he had just used was.

It couldn't be.

But it had definitely tasted like it was.

Castle watched in slight horror as Beckett picked up the bear claw and took a bite out of it, not flinching at the taste at all.

When she finished chewing the bite she had taken, she smirked at the writer, letting him get a good look at her fangs, hoping to scare him off.

Unfortunately for her, it had the opposite effect. She had piqued his curiosity and he wasn't going to stop until he got answers.

* * *

**I've watched The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice literally five times in the last week, a fic like this was bound to happen. (For those of you that don't know, Stana plays a vampire in that movie.)**

**Now, that being said, MorgieSan and I have been plotting an actual semi-serious, but not dark and horrory, and most likely still humorous, vampire Beckett fic. Anyone interested?**


	42. Keeps The Fourth Of July Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Esposito, Lanie, Ryan**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It's the first summer Castle has actually gotten to spend shadowing Beckett, and he finds out that she and Lanie have a big Fourth of July party every year.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Fourth Of July Away...

"You remember it's your turn to do Fourth of July this year, right?" Lanie asked Beckett as she walked into the bullpen one day in late June.

"No it's not." Beckett replied while Castle, who was sitting in his normal seat, looked on in interest. This was the first summer since he had been shadowing her that he got to actually work with her during the summer.

"Nuh uh, we switched last year because something was up with your dad's lake house, remember?"

"You have a lake house?" Castle butted in, but she ignored him in favor of talking to Lanie.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that, some of the pipes had busted and the whole place was a mess. I should probably go call dad and remind him."

Beckett got up and headed to the break room to call her dad so she could talk with at least a little bit of privacy, leaving Castle sitting at the desk with unanswered questions when Lanie headed back down to the morgue.

They got a case as soon as Beckett came back into the bullpen, so he didn't get a chance to find out more until later that day when Beckett brought it up while talking to Esposito.

"So," She started with a smirk towards Esposito. "I hear Lanie invited you to our family's Fourth of July party, any particular reason she would do that?"

Beckett watched him stutter for a few minutes, trying to form an response, before taking pity on him and turning her attention towards Ryan.

"Are you and Jenny doing anything for the Fourth of July?"

"Eh, not really. Neither of our families really do much, we were planning to go watch the fireworks though."

"You two should join us then, I can guarantee it will be a lot more entertaining than fighting the crowds here in the city to watch the fireworks."

"You sure?"

"Yeah if nothing else, you should come so Esposito here can have an excuse to come." She then turned around to see Castle looking at her curiously. "What?"

"So do you and Lanie do this every year?"

"Yeah, we switch off every year though. So one year we go to her family's place, then the next we go to mine. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. I just never knew that."

They fell into silence as she did paperwork for a few minutes before she felt like she had to speak up.

"I'd ask if you wanted to come too, but I know you probably have plans in the Hamptons, or something."

"Actually, we don't this year. Alexis wants to spend it with Ashley, which wouldn't be a problem except for he has to be with his family for most of the day and wouldn't be able to make it up to the Hamptons in time. So we were just planning on doing a little something here in the city."

"You are all welcome to come then."

"Really? All four of us?"

"Yup, with all of Lanie's family, there are so many people going to come that a few more isn't going to make a difference."

They talked about it a little bit longer- discussing details like if he should bring anything, when to show up, and directions to the lake house- and soon it was getting late, and it was time for Castle to head home.

He was just about to walk out of the bullpen when Beckett called out one last thing.

"Oh, and you all will probably want to bring swimsuits, or come wearing them."

"Okay? Why?"

"You'll see."


	43. Keeps Josh Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Josh, Alexis, Martha**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Little Drama**

**Summary: Takes place a few hours after the ending of Countdown. Beckett comes to a decision and then ends up running into Castle at Remmy's. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I haven't read all the Countdown fanfics that have been posted already, so I'm sorry if this ended up being similar to something someone already posted.**

**This isn't what I think actually happened, but I thought it was cute anyway.**

**(Wow sucky summary for this one is sucky...) **

* * *

One A Day Keeps Josh Away...

The silence that had settled in Beckett's apartment as she and Josh sat on the couch, cuddled together, was broken by the loud ringing of Josh's phone.

He unwrapped one of his arms from around her back and reached for the phone he had placed on the coffee table in front of them, quickly bringing it up to his ear and answering it.

He didn't even stay on the phone for a minute before he hung up with a sigh, and untangled himself from Beckett.

"Sorry babe, they need me down at the hospital. You'll be okay, right?"

He was standing in front of her, looking down at her on the couch and her automatic response was to say that she was fine.

But then she stopped and really thought about it, realizing that no, she wouldn't be okay. And so she told him that, causing him to just stare at her, not knowing what to say.

"I'm so sorry, but it's only me and another doctor on call tonight. I can't not go in, I'm sorry." He really was truly sorry- she could see it in his eyes that he really didn't want to leave her- but he had a job to do.

"I understand."

"I knew you would, I'll be back as soon as I possibly can." Josh leaned down to give her forehead a kiss, since her head was tilted down, but she held a hand out to stop him.

"I understand, I really do. But I don't think I can do this anymore. At first I loved that you were so busy because it meant that you understood how busy I was with my job as well, and understood that the times we could actually spend time together would be rare. And that has worked out wonderfully for us, until now. You haven't been there when I needed you, and I know you would have been if you could have, but that's the thing. You couldn't. You're either off in some foreign country saving lives, or you still have to go into work and save lives anyway."

"Babe, Kate, I'm sorry, you know I am. Please don't do this."

She was looking straight at him now, and it nearly broke her heart seeing how upset he was becoming, but even if they made their relationship work now, they would just end up in this exact same situation on down the line.

"I can't, I'm sorry."

"So that's it, then?"

Beckett nodded and then leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, listening to Josh slowly move through her apartment, gathering up all the various little things of his he had left over the time they had been dating.

"Kate." She opened her eyes to see him standing in front of her again, this time holding a duffel bag, that he had left over here once, full of his stuff.

"It's for the best... I'll see you out." Beckett pushed herself up off the couch and followed him to the door, where he turned around and gave her one last kiss on the check before walking out of the door, and out of her life.

* * *

Richard Castle had tried everything to keep him busy enough to stop thinking about Beckett, but nothing was working.

He tried writing, but it had only taken half an hour before he found himself typing Beckett instead of Nikki.

He tried playing a number of video games, but still managed to find himself thinking about the detective.

He even started cleaning the house, but that didn't last very long at all before his thoughts were once again drifting back to her.

He was even thinking about using his very neglected gym membership card and go down to the gym, before his stomach growling made him realize that it was dinner time and that it had been a very long time since he had eaten.

With a certain place in mind, he grabbed his keys and headed out of his apartment building to hail a cab.

It didn't take long for the cab to make its way through traffic and come to a stop outside of Remmy's.

Quickly paying the cabby, Castle headed inside the restaurant, his eyes quickly searching the place for any familiar faces before finding a _very_ familiar face in what they considered 'their' spot.

"This seat taken?" He asked as soon as he got next to the table, quickly sliding into his normal seat when she looked up and nodded with a surprised look on her face.

"Fancy seeing you here, no Chinese take-out today?" He caught the eye of their waitress as he talked and she nodded, signaling that she knew he wanted his normal order.

"Yeah well, it's been a long day. Remmy's sounded good when I realized that I hadn't eaten yet." Beckett said, toying with the straw of her strawberry milkshake.

"Nothing like a great Remmy's burger and shake after nearly dieing, twice."

She didn't seem like she was in much of a mood for talking, so Castle tried to stay as quiet as long as he possibly could.

That only lasted until the waitress brought out his chocolate shake a few minutes later.

"So...I kinda figured you and Dr. Motorcycle Boy would be out having a nice dinner tonight, you know, to celebrate you not dieing."

"He had to work."

"Ah well, I'm sure he'll find a way to make it up to you." He was trying to make her feel better, since she was obviously down about something, but it was just having the opposite effect.

He didn't realize why until she spoke again.

"We broke up."

"You what now? What happened to 'we still have a chance'?" He was torn between running around the restaurant, screaming how happy he was, and being sad that she was upset about it.

"I realized that even though he didn't leave this time, he would eventually leave again. So even if we worked through it now, we'd be in the same situation again in the future. It was best to just end it now."

"I'm sorry." He said, and just like with Josh, she could tell that he really was sorry.

Their food came just a few seconds after that so they started talking about food, which lead to them talking about various other things and by the time they were finished with their meal, Beckett was feeling better.

She took one last large gulp of her milkshake and a cold chill went through her when she swallowed it, reminding her of their time in the freezer.

As she watched him finish up the last of his burger, she thought about all that had happened, and been said, that day and realized that she had made the right choice.

"What are you planning to do now?" She asked once he was through with his meal.

"I don't really know. I was kind of thinking about watching a movie on the shower curtain, since I haven't taken it down yet, but that's really only fun if you are watching with someone else, and since Mother and Alexis are still in the Hamptons..." He trailed off and glanced at her. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to join me for an evening of movie watching, would you?"

He never in a million years thought she would actually even think about accepting, so he was understandably shocked when she asked what movies they would watch.

"Uh er. Um whatever you want to watch... We have nearly everything, you could choose."

"Sure, why not?" Beckett stood up from their table and headed out the door with Castle scrambling to pay their bill and follow her.

* * *

"Aww, that's so adorable!" Alexis quietly said when she and Martha walked into the loft early the next morning to find both Castle and Beckett fast asleep on the couch pullout bed in front of the make-shift movie screen.

The detective and writer were asleep on separate sides of the bed- surrounded by half empty bottles of various drinks and empty bowls of popcorn- their arms stretched across the space between them, hands gently clasped together as they slept.

"Quick, get a picture before they wake up!" Martha whispered to Alexis who quickly did as she was told, wondering how they would react if she got it framed and hung it on the wall.

* * *

**Does Castle's couch actually have a pullout bed? Probably not, but it's cute so just pretend he does, okay?**


	44. Keeps The Picture Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexis**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett finds a certain picture hanging up in Castle's loft.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Yes, this is a continuation of yesterday's fic.**

**And yes, I'll stop writing 'Countdown' fics now haha! (Unless I happen to remember what idea I was thinking of last night, but I don't see that happening.)**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Picture Away...

Three weeks after the freezer/bomb event- and the movie marathon afterwards- Castle walked into the loft, with Beckett in tow. They were just stopping by the loft for a few minutes so he could change shirts after having spilt coffee all over him.

He was right in the middle of explaining to Beckett that this is why he needed to actually have a locker at the precinct- so he could keep extra clothes there- when he noticed a new picture hanging up on the living room wall.

Quicker than anyone thought possible, Castle was across the room, pulling down the picture and hiding it from Beckett's line of sight. Which just made Beckett extremely curious about it.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing at all... I'm just going to go change shirts now." He started walking backwards towards his bedroom, keeping the picture frame securely hidden behind his back.

"Castle...Show me." She walked towards him and he started backing up faster. He didn't realize that it was just making her want to see whatever it was he was hiding even more.

"Alright fine, just go get dressed so we can leave."

"Okay, be back in a minute." Castle turned his back to her- after moving the picture in front of him- and she quickly ran after him, snaking her arms around him to grab the picture frame from the unsuspecting writer.

"Kate! Give it back!" He desperately tried to grab it back from her, but she jumped out of his reach.

"Now, let's see just what this is..." Beckett turned the picture frame over and let out a gasp when she saw the two of them laying in bed together after their movie marathon.

"Castle." She ground out and he immediately tried to defend himself.

"It wasn't me, I swear! Mother must have taken it. I swear this is the first time I've seen it. She must have put it up while we were working on this case."

"You honestly didn't know anything about this?"

"I swear I knew nothing."

"Fine, then you won't mind if I get rid of this, right?"

"But- Er, yeah... Go ahead." Yes, he did mind. But if he told her that he wanted to keep it, she'd probably shoot him.

"Good, go get dressed so we can finish solving this case."

Within a few minutes, he was dressed in a clean shirt and they were on their way to talk to their latest suspect, the picture safely tucked away in the trunk of her car.

* * *

Later that night, Castle came home to find Alexis sitting on the couch doing her homework.

"Hey dad? What happened to the picture that was hanging up on the wall earlier?"

"Beckett happened. We had to stop by here earlier today so I could change my shirt after Ryan spilled coffee all over me and she saw it even though I tried to hide it. It's probably in millions of tiny little pieces right now..." He said with a sigh, mourning the loss of a picture he didn't even know existed until just a few hours ago.

"You know that wasn't the only copy, right?"

A few minutes later, Castle had a new addition to the pictures on his desk- in a double sided frame so he could easily switch it to a picture of him and Alexis should Beckett ever venture into his office.

* * *

What Castle would never know is that Beckett didn't rip up the picture, instead she hung it up in her bedroom, right next to the pictures of her family that she cherished the most.


	45. Means Alexander Is Not Going Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexander**

**Rating: K+ (For mentions of Beckett in underwear, and towel)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Crack!Fic. Beckett finally starts to realize that Alexander is never going to go away...**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I kinda said I was going to work on Ohana Vacation today, and I did, I just wouldn't be able to finish it in time to so I decided to do this instead. Should be able to update that tomorrow.**

**Hope this cheers you up MorgieSan!**

**Sidenote: CAN I JUST SAY I LOVE YOU ALL? The amount of reviews I have gotten for this story collection is freaking amazing! You're making me get all teary eyed now XD I love every single review I get individually. I read them all, and I try to reply to most of them if there is something I can say other than just thanking you for reviewing. **

**My mind is now blown.**

* * *

One A Day Means Alexander Is Not Going Away...

Castle woke up to the now very familiar sound, and feeling, of a certain detective landing on his bed early in the morning. Six o'clock every morning Beckett would attempt to get dressed, and be promptly be sucked into Alexander, and thrown out onto Castle's bed, as soon as she reached inside the closet.

It only took two mornings of being rudely awakened by someone landing on top of him before Castle realized it would be better if he started sleeping on the other side of the bed.

So now, instead of waking up because of Beckett landing on top of him, he woke up to the sound of her grumbling when she lands in bed next to him.

"Mornin' Beckett." He mumbled while stretching back out as he got ready for the new day.

"Shut up, Castle. Just, shut up."

Quickly figuring out that she was not in a good mood this morning, he was about to ask what was wrong when he rolled over to face her, and immediately knew what was wrong.

Apparently Alexander thought it would be funny spit her out wearing only her bra and underwear. Her _lacy red_ bra and underwear.

He was definitely going to have to find a way to thank that closet, some how.

"It's not that bad, at least you've figured out how to bully the closet into taking you back to your apartment now so you don't have to get a cab back to your place."

She glared at him and he realized that he should probably just stop talking because anger plus no coffee equals a very, very scary Beckett.

"I'm just going to go...to the bathroom now." He climbed out of bed and headed into the bathroom to give her some privacy to force her closet into submission.

Though her yelling at the closet in her underwear was a sight he really wouldn't mind seeing.

Castle was in the middle of brushing his teeth, listening to Beckett yell in the bedroom, when he heard her say something very interesting.

Rinsing out his mouth as quick as he could, he rushed out to see Beckett just about to step into the somehow very defeated looking closet.

"You named him Alexander?" Beckett turned back towards the writer to see that he had a huge smirk on his face.

That was it, she was going to find a way to get rid of Alexander once and for all.

* * *

That night she went home, packed a bag, and headed to a hotel on the complete opposite side of town- just to be sure.

Before she went to bed, she placed the clothes she had brought with her into the tiny- black hole free- hotel closet.

The next morning, she wrapped herself in a towel after her shower, and without even thinking, opened the hotel closet to get some clothes, and was immediately greeted by empty space.

"You aren't going to go away no matter what I do, are you?" She was able to say right before she was sucked through the closet and thrown out on what was becoming a very familiar bed.

As Beckett lay there, waiting to see if she was going to be lucky enough to sneak out without Castle waking up, she realized that she was going to be stuck with Alexander.

Forever.


	46. Keeps The Fake Pictures Away

**Characters: Beckett, Lanie**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: There is a very interesting picture of Castle and Beckett in the paper, and Lanie wants some answers.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**

* * *

**

One A Day Keeps The Fake Pictures Away...

"Katherine Beckett! You have got a lot of explaining to do!" Beckett tensed as she heard her apparently very angry best friend yell as soon as she got off the elevator.

"I know you and Writer Boy like to have your secrets, but don't you think your best friend deserves to find out these kinds of things from you, instead of finding out when she opens up the paper to page six!" Lanie stormed into the bullpen, so focused on getting answers from Beckett that she didn't even notice when Esposito and Ryan both ducked under their desks in fear of the short medical examiner.

"What are you talking abo-" Beckett didn't even get to finish her question before Lanie shoved a picture of her and Castle, from the paper, in her face.

The picture was just of the two of them window shopping while holding hands, it wasn't until she looked to the right of the picture and saw an enlarged picture of their hands that she knew why Lanie was angry.

The enlarged version clearly showed an engagement ring on her left hand.

"Lanie," She started with a sigh and held up her ring free hand. "They must have just photoshopped it, or something, to start up rumors. It's not true."

"It's...Not?"

"Nope, I don't know whose ring that is, but it's not mine."

"Oh, okay. Sorry about that."

Lanie took back the picture from her and then headed back down to the morgue, finally allowing the boys to crawl out from under their desks once she was gone.

Once Lanie was gone, Beckett let her hand trail down the chain that held her mother's ring around her neck, grinning when she felt the new addition to the chain.

She didn't lie- that really was a fake picture- she just left out the part about wearing her real engagement ring on her necklace until she was ready to let the rest of the world know she was engaged to Richard Castle.


	47. Keeps The Red Shells Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle and Beckett play another wii game while waiting for information about their case.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Red Shells Away...

"Oh come on! I would have won if you hadn't unleashed that red shell on me!"

"I know, that was the point."

"So unfair. That's the third time in a row you've beat me!"

"Aw, is little Ricky upset he lost a little game?"

"Yes. Yes I am. And I'm never going to forgive you. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you kiss me."

"...Kiss you?"

"Yup, to sooth the pain of defeat."

"In your dreams."

"Actually-"

"Don't. Don't even finish that sentence. It's your turn to pick a course."

"Fine."

The writer and detective started another race on Mario Kart, passing the time until Ryan and Esposito got back from tracking down a lead in their latest case.

They were neck and neck, as usual, but Castle's constant sighing and pouting was distracting her.

Finally, as they started on their final lap, she gave in.

The soft touch of her lips to his cheek had him frozen in place, Mario- his character- continually bumping against the wall while King Boo zoomed on ahead of him with Beckett laughing at her easy victory the whole way.


	48. Doesn't Keep The Inevitable Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Romance/Dramaish**

**Summary: Yet another Countdown fic. Another take on what could have happened.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Freaking internet! GAAAAH! *bashes head against the wall. Repeatedly.* This is what I get for deciding it was time to get a new router. I think my old one is jinxing the new one.**

**So yeah, sorry for yet another Countdown fic, but it's all I could think of after spending pretty much literally all day trying to get the new router set up. (Only to find out that for some reason my old computer and my new and totally awesome iPad will connect to it, but my new (to me, though its actually my mom's old one) will not. I'm about ready to throw it out the window.**

**Or take a flame thrower to it...**

**Or put it in a blender...**

**Or...Eh, I should stop now...**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Inevitable Away...

She watched as Castle walked away, but didn't have a chance to say anything else before Josh wrapped his arms around her from behind. She turned around and hugged him back but there was something that had been bugging her for a while now.

Even though now probably wasnt the best time to bring it up, she did it anyway.

"You're going to have to go to Haiti, aren't you? Maybe not right now, but soon right? It doesn't seem right that they would let you get off that easily, especially with such short notice."

Josh pulled back from her and looked at her guiltily.

"I'm sorry, you're right. They want me to fly out next week instead. I was hoping things would be better for the both of us by then." Beckett sighed and pulled out of his embrace.

"I don't want you to go."

"Kate..."

"I know, I know I can't ask you to give up your job just for me. You have lives to save, and you're good at it. Really good. But... I need someone who is going to be there for me, and I can be there for him. You are wonderful Josh, really, but how much do you really know about what I deal with everyday? And for that matter, I know next to nothing about what your life is like at work."

He tried to step towards her, but she stepped back to keep some space between them.

"Kate please, don't do this."

"I'm sorry, but it's not just about me either. We both work hectic jobs, and rarely do our schedules match up so we can be together. You need someone who will be there for you when you are off work, not someone who regularly forgets about dates because she gets too wrapped up in a case. I loved you, Josh, but we can't do this to each other anymore."

"I dont like it, but I understand what you mean. Honestly I'm surprised this didnt come up sooner." Josh leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Promise me one thing though?"

"What?"

"Don't be alone tonight. It's hard enough to deal with the fact that you are breaking up with me, I couldn't stand knowing that you were trying to deal with everything that happened today alone."

She gave him a small smile and a nod, but he could tell she wasn't really going to do that.

"Kate, promise me. If you don't I'll-"

"You'll what?" She cut him off, causing him to smirk.

"I'll get ahold of your 'partner' and tell him that you need company. If I'm out of the picture, he'll be over here in a heartbeat. Did you know that the first thing he wanted to know was where you were? The paramedic was trying to tell him about what had happened, but he wasn't having any of it. I bet if I hadn't came to check on him when I did, he would have jumped right out of that ambulance and started looking for you."

Stunned at the fact that he had asked for her first thing after a near death experience like that, she could only nod her head.

This time, Josh could tell that her mind was already headed in the right direction so he said his goodbyes and left.

He didn't like it at all but deep inside, he knew it was for the best and would have happened eventually anyway.  
He had known from the moment he had seen the guy, and how they looked at each other, that this moment would happen.  
He loved her, so he was willing to let her go as long as it meant she was happy.

A few minutes later, Beckett gathered up her purse and jacket and headed into the elevator, not exactly sure what to do yet.

But when she got down to the lobby and found Castle just getting off the phone, heading for a cab, she knew what she wanted- needed- to do.

Castle had just slid into the cab, and shut the door behind him, when it was pulled open and a familiar female voice told him to move over.

He complied, with no small amount of surprise, as Beckett slid into the space he had just vacated.

"Where to?" The cab asked before he could question the detective and Castle looked at her, not knowing what she had planned.  
Beckett gave the cabby Castle's address and with a small lurch, they were on there way.

"Uh, Beckett?"

"You still got that shower curtain hanging up? I think a mind-numbing movie marathon is exactly what we need right now."

He answered her question with a grin and soon they were trying to figure out what movies they should watch.

Castle had a million and one questions, but she was here with him now.

That's all that mattered, his questions could wait.


	49. Doesn't Keep Nicknames Away

**Characters: Esposito, Beckett, Caskett!Kid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Esposito attempts to hide from a certain person, and fails.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**

* * *

**

One A Day Doesn't Keep Nicknames Away...

Esposito cowered in an unused storage closet that no one ever used, hiding from a certain person.

No, he wasn't hiding from Lanie, he was hiding from someone who was a considerable bit smaller than his fiance.

The poor detective nearly jumped out of his skin when his cell phone rang loudly, and he quickly silenced it so the sound wouldn't give his position away.

But it was too late.

The door to the closet swung open and a small figure attached itself to Esposito.

"I founded you, Uncle Popo!" The little girl giggled, calling her 'uncle' by her favorite nickname for him.

"It's 'found' not 'founded', but come on, Jo. Stop calling me that. It's Esposito. Es-po-si-to. Say it with me?" He tried to get the little girl to say his name, but Johanna Castle wasn't having any of it.

"Uncle Popo is Uncle Popo!"

"So this is where you were hiding, 'Uncle Popo'." Came a teasing voice from the door way.

"Mama! I found him for you!" Johanna let go of Esposito, and instead latched onto Beckett's legs.

"Yes you did. Why don't you go find daddy, or Ryan, while I talk to Popo about work?"

Johanna quickly ran out of the storage closet in search of her father while Beckett turned her attention to Esposito.

"We found out that Roslin's father-in-law might not be as squeaky clean as he led us to believe so I need you to see what you can dig up on him."

"Sure thing. But can you _please_ talk to Jo about her fascination with nicknames?"

"Why ever would I do that, Popo?" Beckett laughed evilly while walking out of the closet, leaving a sighing detective behind.

He was doomed to be called 'Popo' forever.

Though as he walked out and caught sight of the little girl sitting on Ryan's lap, he figured that 'Popo' was better than 'Anan', the name she had given Ryan.


	50. Doesn't Keep The Anniversary Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It's the second anniversary of Castle working with Beckett, time to celebrate.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Today marks two years since Castle first aired! **

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Anniversary Away...

"Good morning!" Castle called out to the detectives in the bullpen, before turning to the few guys carrying boxes behind him. "You can just set those in the break room over there."

Curiosity getting the best of her, Beckett cautiously walked over to the boxes after the men placed them in the break room and left.

"Castle? What's in the boxes?"

"Cookies."

"Cookies? All of these boxes have cookies in them? Were you planning to feed the whole Homicide Division?"

"Actually, yes I am." He gave her a huge grin but she just stared at him, seemingly not knowing what was going on.

"And why exactly are you doing this?"

"You don't know what today is?"

"Nope." She watched as his face fell the slightest bit, before he quickly pulled himself together.

"Why Detective, I can't believe you forgot! Today is our second anniversary!"

Of course, the two nosy detectives picked that time to pop in and over hear their conversation.

"Anniversary? You guys'? There something you want to tell us about?" Ryan teased while Beckett just rolled her eyes at all of them.

"I have no idea what he is talking about."

"Two years ago today, you arrested me and we worked together on the Tisdale case."

"In other words, the day I realized I must have done something really horrible in a past life to be stuck with you." She shot back at him with a smirk before snatching a cookie out of one of the many boxes and walking out of the break room.

"Guys! Castle brought cookies for everyone!" Beckett's yell had the sweets deprived officers stampeding towards the break room, causing the rest of her team to be stuck inside for a while.

That gave her plenty of time to make sure her plans were finalized.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent just like normal, no more mentions of the anniversary- except for the cookie crumbs everywhere.

It wasn't like he expected Beckett to throw a party or anything like that, but it would have been nice if she had actually acknowledged what day it was.

But no, she wouldn't even take him up on his offer of free drinks at the 'Old Haunt'.

"For the millionth time, Castle, I have too much paperwork to catch up on today."

"But Beckett!"

Esposito and Ryan walked up at that moment, telling them that they were going to head on down to the bar and that they would meet the two of them there when they stopped arguing over it.

"Come on, please?"

"Castle-" Her phone chimed and she looked at it, quickly reading the text message she had received. "-Fine, if you want me to go so bad, then you can wait half an hour while I finish at least some of this paperwork."

"Yes!" Castle fist pumped the air and Beckett turned her focus back on the folder she was reading, bring it up slightly in front of her face to hide the smirk she couldn't stop from showing.

He had no idea.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later- much to Castle's disappointment- the detective and writer were heading to the bar.

When they got there, Castle got out of the car, but Beckett stayed behind, saying she had to make a call first.

At her insistence, he headed into the bar without her.

What he didn't know, was that as soon as he got out of the car, she made a mad dash towards the backdoor, slipping inside and getting into position just as he opened the front door.

"Happy Anniversary!" Way too many voices yelled when he walked into the bar, and as soon as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the room, he could tell that nearly the whole Homicide division was there.

The officers and other detectives all greeted him with various things- "Congrats on surviving two years!" "Didn't think you'd make it this long!"- but he was really only paying attention to the female detective smirking near the back of the bar.

Castle pushed his way, politely, through the crowd of officers until he was standing in front of Beckett.

"You-you remembered?"

"Of course."

"And you set this all up?"

"Well, I had a little help but-" She was cut off as he gathered her into his arms for a massive hug- much to the amusement of the bar patrons.

"Castle, let me go!" Red-faced, she tried to struggle out of his grip when the teasing from her fellow officers and detectives started, but he didn't let go until Esposito commented that if they didn't break apart soon, he was going to get a water house after them.

He finally let her go, but it was too late.

People had already started taking out their cell phones and snapping pictures.

They were never going to let her live this down.


	51. Doesn't Keep The Chats Away

**Characters: Beckett, Alexis, Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Friendship**

**Summary: "Detective Beckett said to tell you that they are on a road trip, and that you shouldn't come in until later today." Alexis continued eating her breakfast, as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary at all.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Many thanks to MorgieSan for the use of a certain line in here that I stole/borrowed from her new fic she is working on. **

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Chats Away...

"Morning."

"You sound a lot more awake than anyone should be at six in the morning." Alexis said into the phone, voice still groggy with sleep.

"Yeah well, I got called in a little before five, and I've already had three cups of coffee." The voice on the other end of the phone said with a small chuckle.

"Did you call dad? I usually hear him leave, but not this time."

"Nah, there was nothing interesting about the body, and he got that look he gets when he has an idea for 'Nikki Heat' last night. So I figured he stayed up late, and could use the sleep."

"Ah, he was in his office last night when I went to bed, so that's probably true." The young teen used her shoulder to keep her phone to her ear while she stretched, getting ready to face the day.

"So do you think you are ready for your calculus test?" She heard the detective say as she pulled herself out of bed to start her morning routine.

"Yup! I'm pretty confident about that. I also have that English test, but that's one of the perks of being a writer's daughter. I don't think I've ever had to worry about failing an English test ever."

"I bet. I can just imagine him teaching a younger you grammar rules that most people don't learn until high school." Beckett pulled the phone from her ear for a minute to cover the mouth piece and yell for Esposito to check on something for their case. When she put the phone back to her ear, Alexis was already talking.

"-this one time when, I must have been around five, I accidentally said 'a actress' and whoever I was talking with corrected me saying, 'An actress, you use 'an' with words that start with vowels.'. I, of course being the smart little kid I was, shot back telling her all about the rules of using 'an'. The lady was completely shocked, and dad was just laughing his head off."

"Oh wow, that must have been hilarious!"

"It was, definitely." Alexis' words were slightly muddled as she finished brushing her teeth. "At the time I didn't really understand why dad was laughing so much though."

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a bit of commotion on Beckett's end.

"Sorry, Lex. Looks like we just got a huge break on our case, so I'm going to have to cut our chat short today."

"It's okay, go catch the bad guys! I'll talk to you tomorrow, good luck."

"Thanks. Oh hey, could you tell your dad not to come in until later? We have to go on a bit of a road trip so even if he comes in early, we won't be here."

"Sure thing." They said their goodbyes then Beckett went off with the boys to catch a murderer and Alexis finished getting ready for school before heading down for breakfast.

When she got downstairs, she saw her father making breakfast, but nearly falling asleep doing it.

"Dad?" She said softly, but it startled him out of his half-asleep state anyway.

"Hey, pumpkin!" Turning around he slid the omelet he had made for her onto a plate, just as the toast popped up from the toaster. He grabbed the toasted bread and put them on the plate too before sliding it down the counter for her.

"Thanks, you didn't have to do this you know. You look like you didn't get any sleep at all last night."

"I didn't, I got a lot of writing done though, so it's okay."

"Well I think you should take a nap before you go to the precinct. Detective Beckett said to tell you that they are on a road trip, and that you shouldn't come in until later today." Alexis continued eating her breakfast, as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary at all.

"You talked to Beckett? When?"

"This morning."

"Why? Did she need something? Do we have a case?"

"Nope, we were just talking. She did get a case early this morning, but decided to let you sleep in since she figured you'd be writing all night."

"I better get some sleep so I can provide them with a fresh set of eyes later, have fun at school!" Castle hugged her and placed a kiss on the top of her head before heading into his bedroom for some very much needed sleep.

He laid there for nearly an hour before finally giving into a certain curiosity of his. It only took a few seconds to type out what he wanted to say, and hit send.

"_So I hear you talked to Alexis this morning." _

As soon as he hit send, he realized that it might sound like he was mad at her, when in reality, he was actually very happy that Beckett and his daughter were bonding. Happier than he should be.

A few minutes later he got a reply that had his eye brows rising high up on his forehead.

"_Yup, just like we have been doing every morning for a while now."_

The next morning found Richard Castle unashamedly hiding outside his daughter's bedroom door, listening as she talked to the detective over the phone.


	52. Doesn't Keep The Guitar Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett is too busy playing her guitar to notice her phone ringing, causing Castle to think the worst when she doesn't pick up.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep The Guitar Away...

Beckett strummed chord after chord on her guitar, singing along to any song that came to mind. She didn't do it often, but playing her guitar was one of the other ways she used to relax, when taking a hot bath-with a good book- didn't work.

Josh was still at work, but she had came home from work a few hours ago, after finishing their latest case around dinner time.

So after a long soak in her bath, that didn't really do much to relax her, she pulled out her guitar.

She played, and sang, loudly, knowing that the walls in her building were thick, and that her neighbors wouldn't hear her no matter how loud she got.

She was really into a song when her phone started ringing.

But she had carried it into the bathroom with her earlier, and couldn't hear it from her spot in the living room.

The phone rang and rang, but as soon as she finished one song, she started on the next and never heard it.

* * *

"Come on, come on! Pick up, Kate!" He dialed her phone for the eight time, still getting no response from the detective.

Castle had originally called her just to tell her something that wasn't really important, but he felt it was a good enough reason to call her.

But when she didn't answer, his mind started thinking the worst. It had only been a few days after the bomb incident, and he was still very on edge.

It took four unanswered attempts before he pulled on his shoes and headed out the door to grab a cab.

Eight attempts later, he was rushing into Beckett's apartment building, fearing the worst.

* * *

Beckett was nearing the end of one song when her front door suddenly crashed open. She literally dove across the living room to grab her gun, then rolled into a position where she could easily shoot whoever just broke into her apartment.

Lucky for Castle, she recognized him right away when he jumped up and started looking for her.

"Castle!" He spun around wide-eyed and caught sight of her, heaving a huge sigh of relief.

"Kate! Oh thank god, you are okay!" She didn't even have time to react before he was hugging her tightly. When he finally let go of her, and stood back, she just blinked at him before letting her gaze drift to the broken door.

"Castle. What the hell is going on?"

"I uh, I...You didn't answer your phone!"

"My phone?"

"Yeah, I tried to call you and when you didn't pick up I started thinking..." His eyes drifted around the apartment until they fell on her guitar that was laying in the middle of the floor and he trailed off. "Is that a guitar? Ooh, I think I heard music when I crashed through the door, were you playing?"

She considered lying to him, but there would be no point. "Yes, I was. Until someone decided to crash through my door. You are going to fix that, aren't you?"

With a nod, he quickly pulled out his phone, saying that he 'knew a guy' that would have it fixed in no time. While he was talking on the phone, she walked over and picked up her guitar, settling back down where she was before.

Beckett listened as Castle picked up the door, while he was still on the phone, and propped it up so at least it sort of looked like it was closed.

As soon as he hung up the phone, she started playing. Softly at first, but getting louder as she realized it wasn't all that hard to play for Castle.

As quiet as possible-he definitely didn't want to disturb her- Castle sat down on the couch and just listened to her play, wishing this could last forever.

But it only lasted until the guy Castle called knocked on the door, causing it to fall and make the writer and detective jump.


	53. Keeps The Monsters Under The Bed Away

**Characters: Beckett, Caskett twins**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Future!Fic. Little Olivia and Cassandra Castle think that there is a monster under their bed, and Kate has to convince them that there isn't.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I have to say, I'm actually really happy with this one. Thanks to MorgieSan and Christyvourcos for the ideas for today's chapter.**

**Now that I have this done, I'm going to spend the rest of the night freaking out about the fact that I'm going to be forced to go to college... I have no freaking clue what to doooooooo. **

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Monsters Under The Bed Away...

"Hey, hey. Wake up!" Little five year old Cassandra whispered as she shook her twin sister desperately until she woke up.

"Mmm! What?"

"I saw something! It came out from under our bed!"

"No way! Mommy said monsters weren't real..." Olivia tried to convince herself of that, but kept glancing over to where her sister was looking.

The two little girls kept looking wide-eyed at the place Cassandra had seen something move, but nothing happened.

It was only when Olivia started shifting around, getting ready to go back to sleep, that something moved at the foot of their bed.

They turned wordlessly towards each other with the same terrified expression.

"MOMMY!"

"What! What's wrong?" Kate Beckett-Castle yelled as she rushed into her daughters' room, flicking on the lights as she entered.

"Mommy! Mommy! There's a monster under the bed! We saw it!" The two girls said at the same time while they rushed towards their mother, and with practiced ease, she scooped them both up into her arms.

"A monster, huh?"

"Uh huh!" Again, they spoke at the same time- something that never failed to amuse Castle when they did it around him.

"And where was this monster?" She placed them both back in their beds and tucked them in.

"At the foot of the bed..." Without another word, Kate swiftly bent down to look under the foot of the bed. Of course, seeing nothing. Though it did give her a pretty good idea of what they really saw.

The twins protested loudly when she turned off the lights, but she came over and sat next to them before telling them to watch near the foot of the bed.

Once she was sure their attention was fully on it, she tugged the covers a little bit, causing the end of the blanket that was on the floor to move.

"Mommy! There it is!" They squealed so she turned the lights back on, showing them exactly just what their monster was.

"See? No monsters. Now it's time for good little girls to go to sleep."

"But..." Cassandra started to say, but Kate cut her off.

"No buts."

"What if there is another one under the bed?" Olivia clutched her pillow and looked up at her mother with wide eyes.

"There isn't."

"But what if there?" She pressed on, not completely convinced yet.

Knowing her stubborn children weren't going to be convinced that easily, she looked around their room, finding what she was looking for on the bedside table.

She picked up two toy Harry Potter wands and handed one to each girl. "Well then, if a monster does come, why don't you use 'Stupefy' or 'Petrificus Totalus' on them?"

The twins' eyes lit up at the thought and Kate shook her head at her Harry Potter obsessed children.

"Oh, did you know there is a rule that only little girls who get lots of sleep the night before get to go the Harry Potter theme park in the morning? You wouldn't want to go all the way there and they tell you you can't go in, do you?" She threw in, just for good measure.

"Really?" They asked at the same time, and she nodded.

The twins flopped back down on their pillows and snuggled into their covers with their eyes closed, not wanting to miss out on the trip they had been looking forward to for weeks.

With a kiss to each of their foreheads, Kate turned out the lights and headed back to her own bed.

"How come they never call for me when they are scared?" Castle asked his wife when she slid into bed next to him.

"Simple. They know mommy carries a gun."


	54. Keeps Fights Over The Baby Away

**Characters: Beckett, Castle, Esposito, Ryan, Jenny**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett, Castle, and Esposito fight over who gets to hold Henry, Ryan's six month old son.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Fights Over The Baby Away...

Ryan and Jenny, who was holding their six month old son Henry, walked into the bullpen and immediately, the rest of Ryan's team rushed towards them.

"Aw, I missed you guys too..." Ryan started to say as the three rushed towards him, but trailed off when they rushed past him to surround Jenny, or more specifically, Henry.

"We come back from a two week vacation, and all you care about is Henry. Thanks guys, thanks a lot." Poor Ryan mumbled to himself, but no one was listening to him.

"C'mere Henry, come to Uncle Javi." The little boy giggled and was about to reach out for Esposito to hold him, when Castle called out to him and got his attention.

"No no, you wanna come to Uncle Ricky, don't you?" Castle reached out and nearly had the boy in his arms when Beckett swooped in and stole him, before walking away quickly.

"Hey there, Little Man, did you have fun on your vacation? I missed you." Henry just gurgled happily at her while playing with her hair, completely used to being handed around so much.

"Come on Beckett, you can't hog him for yourself!" Beckett moved out of the way when Castle tried to take the baby from her, effectively keeping him to herself until Esposito sneaked up behind her and stole him.

"Do you think we are going to get him back anytime soon?" Jenny looked over at her husband, who just shook his head.

"They haven't seen him in two weeks, so I doubt it. God I hope someone else has a baby soon so they'll stop fighting over Henry."

"Well," Jenny started as she smirked in Beckett's direction. "See how she keeps touching her stomach? Looks like you are going to get your wish sooner than you think."


	55. Keeps Team Rocket Away

**Characters: Beckett, Castle, Alexis, Caskett Kid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Alexis and Castle are having a duel. A Pokemon duel.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Hack hack, cough cough...This cold is going to kill meeeeeeeeee. It is (or should be) a well known fact that Hallow should not be allowed to write under the influence of cold medicine. Some very...Interesting things happen if I do. And not in a good way either. **

**So.**

**We have the wonderful MorgieSan guest writing today's One A Day chapter! Be on the look out for her new story "D'être Votre Ami" in the future! It's awesome! (And yes, it is in English if you were wondering.)**

**(Hi Velveeeeta!)  
**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Team Rocket Away...

Castle poked diligently at the buttons on the Nintendo DS, while Alexis did the same. They were facing each other on the couch, and had been locked in a marathon duel for the last three hours.

"Prepare for trouble." Alexis warned.

"Make it double," he fired right back.

Alexis flicked her eyes up to look at him, before turning her attention back to her button mashing. "To protect the world from devastation!"

Castle gave her a sly grin, "To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" She gritted out as she contorted her body this way and that as her precious Monferno struggled to survive against her father's Horsea. She needed a potion, and fast.

He dropped the game to his lap after he defeated her. "To extend our reach to the stars above!"

She dropped hers into her lap as well. "Alexis!"

"Ricky!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

They both looked over at Kate expectantly. She was curled into the chair across the room with a book. "What?"

"Kate, you have to finish the motto. It's like a rule, or something," Castle said.

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease," he begged.

"Come on, Kate, please." Alexis joined in.

"I'll do it! I'll do it!" Four-year-old Sammy Ryan raced around the corner, and jumped to a stop in the middle of the room. "MEOWTH! That's right!"

"Alright, little man!" Castle gave the little boy a high five.


	56. Keeps The Hair Brushes Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Fluff**

**Summary: The first few strokes were awkward for the both of them, but eventually they both relaxed enough so that it became more comfortable.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Still can't breathe through my nose, and my throat still hurts. But I actually felt like hauling myself out of bed and writing today, so that's a good sign. Thankfully MorgieSan was awesome enough to guest write for me yesterday so that you guys didn't have to suffer without a chapter XD. **

**This idea came to me late last night, while sleepy and under the influence of cold medicine, so I'm sorry if its a little random...**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Hair Brushes Away...

"You're staring, and it's even more creepy than usual." Beckett paused with her brush still in her hair to give him a pointed look from across the bed.

They had taken a road trip to get information on a potential suspect, and gotten caught in a nasty storm on the way back. Resulting in them finding the nearest motel, but with their luck, the nearest one only had one room, with one bed.

"Sorry, it's just...Uh, never mind." Castle turned away from her and she continued her nightly routine of brushing her hair, but not even thirty seconds later, he was staring again.

"What, Castle?"

"...Nothing."

"It's obviously not 'nothing'. Just spit it out."

"I can't. You'll think I'm creepy." Her eyebrow rose up, and he quickly corrected his wording. "Okay, creepier than normal."

"I don't think that's actually possible." Castle actually looked slightly embarrassed, and that just made her want to know what he was thinking even more. "Come on, just tell me so we can get some sleep."

"You sure you want to know?" At her nod, he took a deep breath and just told her flat out.

"I want to brush your hair."

Of all the things she had come up with that he might say, that was _not_ one of them.

"You want to do what now?"

"I told you it was creepy. It's just that seeing you do that reminded me of when Alexis was little and she'd let me brush her hair."

They were both silent after that, neither of them really sure what to say. Castle was just about to try to lighten up the mood by cracking some ridiculous joke, when he felt something tapping him on the arm.

It was the brush she had been using just a few minutes ago. She tapped him with it again, while looking straight at him, until he finally took the brush from her, then she turned so that her back was to him.

Castle stared blankly at the back of her head, until she turned around to look at him with a face that clearly wanted to know what he was waiting for.

So he scooted closer to her and hesitantly pulled the brush through her long silky locks of hair.

The first few strokes were awkward for the both of them, but eventually they both relaxed enough so that it became more comfortable.

"I used to hate doing Alexis' hair at first because, I don't know how she did it, but her hair was always full of tangles! Plus, I didn't know what I was doing back then, so that didn't really help. Eventually I got better at it and enjoyed doing her hair every morning, but as she got older, she insisted on doing it herself and only let me do it occasionally. Now she won't even let me near her hair. Apparently pigtails aren't really in style anymore." Castle finished with the right side of her hair and moved onto the left, enjoying the feeling of her hair flowing through his fingers as he held sections steady while he brushed so it wouldn't pull.

"This is the first time someone has done this for me since...Since my mom passed." She wasn't sure what made her decide to tell him that, it just slipped out as she got more and more relaxed. "She used to do it all the time. Even all the way through my school years. She'd let me style it of course, but she always insisted on brushing it nearly every night. It used to drive me insane during high-school, but when I moved off to college I missed having her do that. Then she...She was gone..."

By the time she finished talking, she was clearly deep into her own thoughts so he just made a small agreeing sound, continuing to brush her hair until he couldn't possibly brush it anymore.

"Here," He finally said, handing the brush to her over her shoulder, and startling her out of her thoughts. "I didn't do such a bad job that you had to zone out, did I?"

"Absolutely, my poor hair might never be the same again." Beckett moved over so she was laying on her half of the bed and grinned at him, so that he knew she was just teasing him.

"Uh huh, I'm sure your pretty hair will be fine. Goodnight, Beckett." He reached over and turned the lamp off before settling down on his side, getting ready to attempt to fall asleep with the detective barely two feet away from him.

"Seriously though," She said after a few minutes of silence. "You better watch it, or you'll be doing that all the time."

"Anytime, detective. Anytime."


	57. Keeps The Comas Away

**Characters: Martha, Castle/Beckett, Alexis**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Slight drama/Family**

**Summary: Castle has been in a coma for eight months, so who has been taking care of Alexis?**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**WARNING: This fic jumps from humorous, to emotional, back to humorous, back to emotional until the end where it gets borderline crackish. The perks of writing on cold medicine, obviously. **

**And for those of you who were wondering, I'm getting better. Slowly, very very very slowly, but surely. Just uh, beware the randomness until I get better.**

**EDIT: Anyone who likes Crack!Fics, Alexander the closet, the Catherine Tate Show, and/or The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice seriously needs to check out MorgieSan's new fic "I Ain't Bovvered!".**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Comas Away...

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep_

Castle slowly opened his eyes, finding that the annoying beeping sound was coming from a heart monitor. The heart monitor, and various other machines hooked up to him, were all that he saw before his eyes slowly slid shut, and he fell asleep once more.

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep_

The next time he drifted back into consciousness, he immediately became aware of a painful throbbing in his head. He let out a groan, and immediately he could hear people rushing around near him. Curiosity won out over the pain, and he opened his eyes to see doctors and nurses hovering over him.

_I'm in a hospital? What happened to me?_

His eyes drifted around the room until they fell on his mother, standing off to the side- out of the doctor's way- looking relieved, but it was clear that she had been very worried about him.

"'Astle... Mr. Castle... Can you hear me?" Castle opened his eyes again- apparently he had fallen asleep again after seeing Martha- when the doctor called out to him.

"W-What happened to me?" He croaked out, voice hoarse and cracking from non-use.

"Can you remember anything at all, Mr. Castle?"

_He hit the ground with a thud, and a crack as his head hit something hard. His vision started to blur, but he could still see the figure of Beckett leaning over him with a worried look on her face, her hands coming away from his head covered in blood._

"Mr. Castle?" The doctor's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Castle looked up at him frantically.

"Where's Beckett? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, Richard, you were the only one hurt." Seeing that the doctor and nurses were through with their tests, Martha decided it was time to make her presence known.

"Mother? What happened? Were we in a shoot out, or something? All I remember is falling to the floor, and hitting my head on something."

"Sorry dear, this is going to hurt your pride a lot, but it was nothing as spectacular as that." She sat on the edge of his bed and took one of his hands in hers. "You insisted that there was a book at the library that would help you solve the latest case, and made Kate go with you. Do you remember that?"

He shook his head at her, deciding to keep his questions regarding the use of the detective's first name to himself, for now.

"Well you did, and it turned out that the book you just had to have, had been moved to one of the top shelves. So what did you do? You pulled the ladder over and climbed right up there to get it, only you had to stretch to reach it and ended up falling off the ladder. But here's the kicker, you hit your head on a whole stack of Patterson's books on the way down, made a nice dent in that pretty little head of yours." She tried to keep her tone light, but she couldn't help the few tears that made their way down her cheeks.

"I'm okay, I'm fine." Martha nodded her head and squeezed his hand.

"I know, it's just that you slipped into a coma for so long that you had us all worried."

"A coma? How long was I out? A few days?"

"'Fraid not, Mr. Castle." Dr. Carson walk back into the room- after having left earlier to check on other patients while mother and son talked. "It's been nearly eight months since you were admitted."

While Castle tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he had been out that long, Dr. Carson turned to Martha.

"I've tried to get a hold of her, but the line has been busy. Should I keep trying?"

"Yes...No wait. When do you think he will be released?" The doctor looked over at the writer, and then checked his chart.

"He seems to be doing fine, all the tests we have run while he has been here have come back normal, so all we were really waiting for was him to wake up. I don't see why he can't go home as soon as the discharge paperwork is done."

"Excellent. No need to call her then. I think it will be wonderful to surprise them."

Castle just looked at his mother in confusion, having no clue what they were talking about.

* * *

"I'm fine, really."

"That's what you said last time I let you go, and you walked right into a wall. We are almost there, you can put up with holding your mother's arm for just a little longer."

The mother-son duo made their way down the hallway to the loft, Castle stumbling every few steps. His unsteady walking had her worried about leaving the hospital so soon, but Dr. Carson reassured them that it was okay, he just had to get used to being upright and walking again after being in bed for so long.

It was getting close to dinner time by the time they made it into the loft, so he expected to be greeted by his daughter when they walked in, but the loft was completely silent.

"Where's Alexis?" Castle asked as he stumbled his way through the living room to collapse on the couch.

"She's started taking some college classes after school now, but she should be home soon."

"College classes? Already?"

"Richard dear, she's nearly through with her senior year. Will you be okay while I go make a phone call?" He nodded, too busy thinking about all the time he had lost to verbally respond to her.

Eight months was a long time. He had apparently missed most of Alexis' senior year of high-school. What kind of classes was she taking now? What kind of activities was she doing? Was she still dating Ashley? These were all things that he didn't know, but what worried him the most, was not knowing how she had dealt with him being gone for so long like that.

They had never been away from each other for that long before, the only time that came close was when he went to the Hamptons with Gina that summer.

Thinking of his trip to the Hamptons made him think about his reason for going in the first place, which made him think about Beckett.

Beckett.

Oh god, he hadn't seen her for eight months. There was no telling what was going on with her now, she could be Mrs. Doctor Motorcycle Boy now for all he knew!

That thought certainly didn't help his mood, and when Martha finally came back into the living room after making her phone call, she found him sulking on the couch.

"What in the world are you making that face for? You should be happy that you are finally awake, you silly boy." She mock scolded him and came to sit by him on the couch, turning so that she was facing him.

"I know, I know. But it's just I can't believe that eight months of my life are gone, just like that. I've missed most of Alexis' most important school year, there's no telling what Beckett is doing now, and even some things here in the loft are different." Castle idly picked at a couch pillow that wasn't there eight months ago, though it did seem slightly familiar to him. "I just...I just hate that I wasn't there for Alexis. I remember how stressful my senior year was, and I wasn't even that concerned with grades and stuff. There's no telling how hard it's been for her."

"You're right, it has been hard for her, but she wasn't alone."

He cringed at that. "Sorry, I know she had you, and I'm sure you took great care of her, but still. I feel, guilty I guess."

"Actually, that's not what I meant. But thank you. I meant that I wasn't the only one taking care of her, or did you forget that you asked someone else to look out for her if something happened to you?"

Martha watched with a smile on her face as he thought about it, a hopeful smile spreading across his face.

"Beckett?"

"Bingo! She's been helping us a lot these eight months, or rather I should say the three of us have been helping each other, the poor girl took it pretty hard too."

"Really?"

"Yes, we were all in a slump that first month, but she was the one who eventually got us all back on track with our lives again. Though I still feel bad about what happened with that boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend now, of hers because of us. He seemed to think she was spending too much time with us, and though we tried to tell her we would be okay, she ended up telling him to suck it up and deal with it, or leave. He eventually gave up and broke up with her, though from what I understand it wasn't a bad break up, seemed like it was more of a mutual thing by that point. I still feel guilty about it sometimes though."

"I'm sure she doesn't blame you at all, mother. Say, how long do you think it will be before Alexis gets back? I could really use a shower."

"Normally she would be back by now, but I think she got held up for a little while so you have time. Are you sure you can stand up long enough?" She questioned when he pushed himself up off the couch, and nearly fell over.

"I'll be fine. It's got a built in seat, I'll survive." Castle made his way towards his bedroom, still stumbling, but it was getting easier. He'd be walking normally in no time.

He walked through this office- noticing the different laptop on his desk, along with a few other odd things that weren't there before- and into his bedroom, noticing that there were quite a few things different there as well.

There was a new pillow and blanket lying on his bed, and there were actual things on the bedside table on the side he never slept on- and therefore never used.

But what really tipped him off, was the jewelry box sitting on the dresser, and the distinct smell of cherries.

But no, it couldn't be... Right? Shaking his head, Castle headed into his bathroom to take his shower before Alexis got back.

The bathroom was altered as well, the towels he normally used were replaced by ones that were much softer, and much more feminine. Thankfully, he found his towels- and other bath products that he found had been replaced- under the bathroom sink.

Curious to see if he was right or not, he showered as quick as possible, pulled on some clean clothes, and headed back out into the living room.

* * *

"-I remember having to take that class too, it was pretty bad."

"Thanks, Kate, that makes me feel _so_ much better about it."

"Ha! Sorry kid, you asked for my honest opinion about it."

Martha watched from her place in the living room as Beckett and Alexis walked in, chatting about Alexis' classes, and she could barely keep a grin off her face.

"Good evening, Martha. Where's this guest you told me to bring extra food for? I hope whoever it is likes Italian." Beckett said as she, with Alexis' help, carried the food boxes to the kitchen counter.

"He is, uh, just getting cleaned up. And yes, he does like Italian."

"Ooooh a 'he'? Have you been seeing someone without us knowing, Grams?"

"Nonsense dear. Besides, between the two of you, I can't keep any secrets."

Beckett and Alexis just looked innocently at her, clearly having spent a lot of time together these past eight months.

"Ah, you might want to wait on that." Martha said when Beckett started taking down plates to dish out the food. "Why don't you go ahead and just set the boxes in the oven to keep warm for now? Something tells me we won't get to eat right away."

"Okay?" Confused, Beckett did as she suggested and put the boxes in the oven, nearly dropping then when she heard Alexis gasp, then squeal loud enough to nearly shatter glass.

"DAD!"

Beckett pushed the boxes in and shut door just in time to look up and see Alexis hugging the life out of Castle.

"Hey Pumpkin, it's okay. I'm back now." The father and daughter embraced for a long time, whispering to each other as they reunited.

It took a few seconds for the shock to wear off, but when it did, Beckett sidled up next to Martha who was now leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Care to explain why you knew about this, and no one called me, or Alexis, when he first woke up? I thought I made it clear to Dr. Carson-"

"You did, and he tried, but you didn't answer your phone. So I figured why not surprise you two when you got home?" Martha cut her off, knowing the detective well enough now to know that she would have just kept on talking.

"Of course, out of all the days that I had to leave my phone in the car during a take-down-" She was cut off again, but this time it wasn't by Martha.

"Beckett?" Castle was standing right next to her now, close enough where she would only have to reach a short distance to touch him. Eight months ago, she wouldn't have even think about letting herself hug him, but that was then. This is now.

Before he even knew what was happening, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. Within seconds, both Alexis and Martha had joined in, resulting in the writer being squished in a massive group hug.

He may have lost eight months of his life, but at that moment, he couldn't be any happier.

* * *

A little while later...

"I knew this throw pillow looked familiar. It's yours, isn't it?" Castle asked when they had all migrated into the living room after dinner.

"Yup, I've had that thing for so many years, I couldn't get rid of it."

"I keep thinking it's a shaggy dog every time I see it out of the corner of my eye."

"So do I!" Alexis piped up from her end of the couch.

"Like father, like daughter. Don't talk about my pillow that way though, or I'll bring up how utterly creepy that doll is that's always around here some where."

"Queen Penelope Picklepants the sixth?" Father and daughter answered at the same time, slightly startling the detective.

"Yeah, that one. It's creepy. Where did you get that thing, anyway?"

"I made it."

"You, made it?" Castle laughed out loud at her shocked expression.

"Yup! All by myself too. Which is why she is Queen Penelope Picklepans the sixth. Numbers one through five didn't exactly turn out so well."

They talked for many hours after that. Talking about things that went on while he was in the hospital, about things at the precinct, and about how things were going with Martha and her acting, but most notably, they talked about why a lot of Beckett's stuff was around the loft.

Not that he had any problem with it, he was just curious.

It turns out that ever since his accident, Beckett had ended up staying the night every night, for one reason or another, until finally after six months, Martha and Alexis convinced her it was pointless to keep paying rent on an apartment she never used. So basically, Beckett moved into take care of his family, and that made Castle a very happy man to know that she would do that for them.

An hour or so later, Alexis and Martha decided to head to bed while Beckett and Castle talked some more, just enjoying each other's company until they realized they had a small problem.

Beckett had let her apartment go, and had been sleeping in his bed, so now they were going to have to share.

* * *

A few days later, James Patterson received a letter in the mail with familiar handwriting.

_I always knew you were out to get me! Just couldn't handle my success, could you? _

_P.S. That would have been the perfect murder if one, I had actually died. And two, it hadn't been a stack of your books. I know you are vain and all, but that kinda screams "I did it!", don't you think?_

Months later a new Patterson book came out, featuring a man killed by a stack of books. Inside the dedication read:

_Thanks for the tip,_

_watch out for Connelly._

* * *

Beckett watched as Castle walked into his office and couldn't stop the loud laughter that came out of her mouth when he screamed, and quickly ran out of his office to hide behind her, when he saw the stack of Michael Connelly books on his desk.


	58. Keeps The Leprechauns Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Caskett kid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It's St. Patrick's Day, and the non-green wearing detectives of the twelfth are going to end up strangling a certain writer if he doesn't keep his hands to himself.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Leprechauns Away...

"Castle, I swear to god if you pinch me one more time, you'll be riding with Ryan and Esposito for a month." Beckett slammed her pen down and glared at the writer when she felt a pinch on her leg.

Castle just looked at her with wide eyes, shaking his head frantically. "It wasn't me! I swear!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that? You've been after everyone not wearing green all day."

"But I stopped after you threatened to tell Gina where I go when I hide from her..."

"Whatever, go get me some coffee, will you?" He nodded and grabbed both of their empty cups before rushing towards the break room, passing Esposito and Ryan on the way.

"Ow!"

"Not cool bro, not cool." The detectives each said as the writer passed, and they each felt a pinch on their arms.

"It wasn't me!"

"Sure it wasn't." They replied at the same time, both keeping their eyes on him as he fixed his and Beckett's coffee.

A few minutes later he sat a coffee cup down in front of Beckett, and then took a seat with his own cup.

"Castle!" She yelled when she was pinched on the leg, and she was going to hit him with the pen she was holding, but he had jumped out of his chair.

"It wasn't me! I saw something small and green run by you."

Beckett looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Really, Castle? You expect me to believe leprechauns are the ones pinching people?"

"But..."

"Just... Just go into the break room and stay in there for a little while, okay? I need to get some work done."

"Fine." He pouted and made his way into the break room, plopping down on the couch to wait until she decided to forgive him.

There was peace for a few minutes, but then Karpowski walked through the bullpen- no where near Castle- and she got pinched.

"What the..." Both Karpowski and Beckett looked around, but the only thing Beckett saw was a flash of green clothes and brown ringlets darting around a desk.

"Oh, come on...ALEXIS!" The detective shouted and a laughing young red headed woman came around the corner.

"Took you long enough." Alexis said to Beckett, then reached under a nearby desk to pull out a little girl in a leprechaun costume.

Beckett put her fingers to her forehead and rubbed small circles there before turning to the two girls. "You are so your father's daughter." She said to Alexis, then turned her attention to the little girl. "Come here, Ella."

Little Ella happily jumped into her mother's arms, then Beckett stood up the little girl and walked into the break room to see her husband still sulking on the couch.

"I found your leprechaun."

"Hey baby girl! What are you doing here?" Ella wiggled around until Beckett put her down, then she ran into her father's arms.

"Lexi brought me over!"

"Did she now? Well I think you have something you should say to all the people you went around pinching, don't you?" Castle asked, and Ella shook her head rapidly.

He carried his younger daughter out into the bullpen- whispering "told you it wasn't me" to Beckett as he passed her.

"Now," He started when he arrived in the middle of the bullpen, and had the attention of all the detectives and officers that had been pinched by the young girl. "What do you say, Ella?"

"You should have worn green!"


	59. Doesn't Keep Feelings Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Caskett kid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Slight Drama/Romance**

**Summary: "_And nothing is worse than knowing that you're holding back. I could be all that you needed, if you let me try…"_**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So ahem, I thought I was getting better. Then I woke up this morning feeling worse than ever. (And was hauled off to the doctor, but I think I've complained about that enough on twitter.)**

**So now I'm back with even stronger medicine so I figured it would be best not to write today. **

**So for your One A Day reading pleasure, we have the wonderful ChristyLoisGilmore17 (christyvourcos) guest writing today! (I know I shouldn't be having other people write when I can't, but would you rather have a One A Day that's not written by me, or none at all? Besides, hopefully this will be the last time. Until I get sick again XD)**

**So...I should probably stop saying 'so' shouldn't I? Weeee off to lalalaland!**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Feelings Away...

Castle couldn't handle it anymore. He had gone weeks after the almost bombing of New York acting like he was okay, but he wasn't. For the first time, Richard Castle knew his feelings and he was terrified. If he tried to hold onto those emotions any longer he felt he would explode, but if he told Beckett, then things could completely change.

The changes could be good or bad, and he didn't want to risk it. Plus, Josh was still in the picture, and Castle felt like he wouldn't ever be able to compete with him. "Josh saves lives, and what do I do? Just write stories," he said his thought out loud.

What he didn't notice was that his daughter was watching him from the office door in the loft. "You don't just write stories, Dad. You've saved some lives too, and you know that." Said Alexis. He couldn't look up from his computer; he didn't want his daughter to see him this way. Castle wanted his daughter to see him as strong, and at this moment, he was the opposite of that word. His emotions were written on his face. Alexis didn't need to see her dad's face to know that he was in pain. She had been scared about her dad's life a few weeks ago but she knew that Beckett would protect him. Now she didn't know what to do to help her dad.

"Not really…" said Castle.

"Dad, what about all those cases you've helped solve with Detective Beckett?" said Alexis. "I'm sure she would say that you've saved a few lives."

He sat there looking at his daughter with a tired look on his face. "I don't think so. I think she would just say I was someone that was bothering her."

"You know that isn't true, Dad. She might say you're annoying, but I know that you're important to her," said Alexis.

He sat up into his chair, and moved to tap his hand on top of his daughter. He looked into her eyes, and realized how much his daughter knew his feelings for Beckett.

"I'm sure, Pumpkin, but even if I'm important. Josh is her boyfriend, and I'm just the partner," said Castle sighing.

It's the last word that makes Alexis light up because he dad used to tell her that he was just a "shadow", and just going to the cases for research.

"I know you don't want to tell Detective Beckett your feelings because you're worried about how she will react, but you have to do something! Dad, you can't sit here in self-pity, and be depressed. It won't help. It will just make you go through everything over and over like a song on repeat."

At that moment, Castle realized again how wonderful his daughter was. She was right; he did need to do something. Sitting here trying to write wasn't working for him, and he knew it.

"Thanks, Alexis. In a little bit, I'll go and talk to her," said Castle.

Now that that she knew that her Dad was taking her advice, she started to walk out of the office. There was still a part of her that was worried that if he went, he will be even more heartbroken than before, but that wasn't something she could control. Alexis wished she could protect him, like her dad protects her, but she knew that both of them couldn't be protected forever.

While Castle was working up the courage to go to Beckett, Josh was at Beckett's place. He just had arrived because Beckett had called him over. He figured they could go out to dinner and then see from there what they could do. Though it wasn't part of Beckett's plans. She wasn't dressed up for dinner; she was just wearing something casual.

"Hey Josh." Beckett said while opening the door to her place. As soon as she did, Josh noticed she wasn't ready.

"It looks like you're not ready yet for dinner. I can wait in the living room till you get ready to go," said Josh.

Beckett tried to smile but ended up sighing. She was risking her heart once again, and she didn't know what to do. Then she suddenly heard in her head, "The heart wants, what the heart wants." Castle's voice helped her figure out and she felt a bit stronger about the decision.

"Josh, could you sit down on the sofa?" said Beckett quietly.

He shook his head; it was like he knew what she was going to stay.

"No, it's fine. I'll just stand. I don't think I'll be staying for very long," Josh said while looking at her eyes.

"I want to let you know that I really wanted to give us a second chance when you decided to stay instead of going to Haiti," said Beckett slowly, starting to have difficulty talking.

"It's him. I've seen how he acts around you. He needs you just like it seems like you need him," said Josh with serious face.

"I don't…" she said just as Josh cuts her off.

"I know how difficult it is for you to open up, and it's taken me a while for me to figure that out. Don't deny it. I'm going to make this easier for you. I'm going to Japan to help with the rescue efforts there, and you're free to be with whom ever you want, but promise me…" said Josh.

She knew if Josh left to go to Japan that it would be the last for them, and also be something dangerous now with the radiation. But it was his life, and one thing she realized when he left to Africa is that she couldn't stop him from living his life. He has a bigger purpose than being with her; he could help the world so much. He was letting her go, and at the same time she was trying to let him go live his life especially when she knows her heart isn't into their relationship.

"What is it, Josh," said Beckett.

"Promise me that you won't hold back and finally tell Castle what you feel about him. I want you to be happy. I know I can't make that happen, but he can. Just let him make you happy, let him into your life," said Josh.

"I promise. As long as you promise me something in return."

"Sure, anything," said Josh quickly.

"Promise me that you'll forget me and just move on that way you can do what you've meant to do, and that's help people where ever you are," said Beckett.

"I'll promise about helping people, but I don't think I can promise about forgetting you. Though I'll try to move on," said Josh. He comes closer and gives her one last kiss. Then they both hug each for some time. After a few minutes, Josh knew he needed to leave, so he did. He walked out of her door, and left her life forever.

Though Beckett knew where her heart really belonged, seeing Josh leave still was difficult for her. Josh had been there when Castle wasn't. She didn't even know how she would fulfill her promise, but she knew she would when she figured it out. All she knew, now that Josh was gone, was to grab her guitar. She had been learning the chords and the notes for the song "Terrified" sung by Katharine McPhee and Zachary Levi. She had seen their music video a few days ago, and realized how much the song applied to her life. Plus it made her smile to think about how Zachary Levi was singing the song because she had seen Tangled and a bit of Chuck since Castle had recommended both to her. She could picture Castle singing this song with her even though she knew he didn't really sing.

At the same moment when Beckett was sitting on the sofa with her guitar singing, Castle was walking towards her door. He was about to knock when he heard the guitar, and her voice singing.

"_In a world full wrong you're the thing that's right/Finally made it through the lonely to the other side/You said it again my heart's in motion/Every word feels like a shooting star/I'm at the edge of my emotions/Watching the shadows burning in the dark/And I'm in love and I'm terrified/For the first time in the last time/In my only life…" _

He had heard that song on the radio on the way to her place. So he knew the lyrics. He wanted to sing to her the next part but he didn't think he would be able to. Either way, he knocked on her door. Castle heard the guitar stop, and the door open.

"Hi," they both said when they looked at each other.

"Can I come in, Kate?" Said Castle.

"Sure, Rick." Beckett said, surprising herself and Castle.

He didn't stay surprised for long, and he began to smile while walking towards a chair next to the sofa in the living room.

"It looks like you've been playing the guitar again," said Castle.

"Yeah, I really needed to play… I broke up with Josh tonight," said Beckett.

Instead of sitting down, Castle went to her and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry…" he said.

"It's alright. It wasn't meant to be. He couldn't stay here forever, and my heart wasn't with him," she said.

This made Castle face crunch up with confusion and curiosity. He didn't want to ask though; he knew that he needed to be there to listen.

"I don't feel like talking right now, but you can stay and listen to me play this song," said Beckett.

"Are you sure?" he said. He looked at her and knew she was. "Alright, only if you let me sing the next part."

Now Beckett was shocked. "I didn't know you sang."

"Well," Castle smiled, "You know my mother being an actress, she had a few people she knew teach me a bit of acting, and singing. She knew I wouldn't be an actor after she started to realize that I wanted to write, but since I was young I've… don't tell anyone this, it could ruin my reputation," he said while she smiled. She nodded and he continued. "I still love singing but I just never usually sing because I don't know how to play any instruments."

"Well, I've got a guitar," said Beckett.

"Does this mean that you want to sing that song with me right now?" Asked Castle excitedly.

Still smiling Beckett responded, "Yeah, do you know the rest of the lyrics?"

He nodded. That's when Beckett started to play guitar again. She played the chorus again without singing, and when she got to the next part, he began to sing.

"_This could be good/It's already better than that/And nothing is worse than knowing/You're holding back/I could be all that you needed/If you let me try…"_

They finish singing the song together while she played the guitar.

"You know… That song is so true," said Castle. "You told me a while back that you know that you're in love when all the songs make sense, well they do." She stopped playing her guitar and looked up to him. "They make sense because of you, and I think they always will."

"I made a promise to Josh," she said. He began to shut down, place his head down, and close his heart for whatever she ended up telling him. "That I would be honest with my feelings, for you."

Quickly his head went back up to look at her. "You don't have to rush, we can take it slow. Any time you need to think…"

"Thanks, Castle, but I don't need any time. I just need you."

* * *

Several years later...

It was another late night, and Beckett needed to play her guitar. The case had been tough. Her husband was still asleep, and tried to quietly leave the bed so as to not wake him. She walked out of their room carrying her guitar, and she planned to play her guitar in the kitchen when she walked by two rooms. One was her daughter's, and the other was her son's. Her little Johanna was such a Daddy's girl but her father told her that she also had some traits that were like her mother. When he told her that, she started to notice those traits as well. Now her son was more like his father, so playful and curious. She decided then that she might sing and play a song to one of them but she couldn't decide which one. Until her son, Robert, began to cry. He was only a few months old compared to Johanna who was already four. In a few more months, there would be two more beautiful children in this world. She figured it would be good to sing and play him a song so he could go back to sleep. She sat down in the rocking chair, and began to play the song Terrified. Not that it applied to her anymore, but because of how the song still had meaning to her. While she was playing the song, she was looking at her son, and she was so focused that she didn't notice that Castle was standing at the doorway looking at them.

After all this time, he was still in love with his wife, and couldn't imagine what his life would be without her, Alexis, and their children. He began to sing the chorus with her when it began to get close to the end of the song. That's when she looked up to see him. She saw the love he had for her, and they both knew that that love would always be there.


	60. Keeps The Fourth Of July Away Part 2

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Papa Beckett, Lanie, Ryan, Esposito, Alexis**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: ****It's the first summer Castle has actually gotten to spend shadowing Beckett, and he finds out that she and Lanie have a big Fourth of July party every year. Part 2**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Yeah, it's late I know. I kinda got trapped in my closet cleaning it and lost track of time until it's like midnight and I'm all 'Holy heckles I forgot to do One A Day!'... So yeah. That's my excuse XD**

**I'm pretty happy with this chapter though, so I think it will make up for it.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Fourth Of July Away Part 2...

"Whoa, this place is huge! Are you sure we are at the right place, dad?" Alexis leaned forward from her space in the backseat of the car with Ashley to look at the directions Castle had in his hand.

"Yeah, we followed Beckett's directions exactly..." He trailed off as he pulled into the driveway and parked by the rest of the cars, scanning the rather impressive crowd of people milling around the house. "Hey! I just saw Ryan heading around back, guess we are at the right place."

The four of them piled out of the car and headed up to the front of the house, where they got a lot of attention from the people that were out front.

"Hey there, you Katie's friends? She said she was expecting a few more people to show up, and I don't think I've ever seen you guys before." A friendly looking older man said as they got closer to the porch where he was relaxing.

Castle told the man that they were Kate's friends, and then a very lengthy introduction session went on where they were introduced to every one in the front yard. Finally they were saved when a familiar man came out of the house, presumably to see what all the commotion was about.

"Mr. Beckett!" Castle had tried his best not to let his relief show through, but apparently Jim Beckett heard it anyway.

"I do believe I told you to call me Jim awhile back." He said with a smile as he gestured for the four of them to follow him through the house.

"Sorry about that, the Parish family can be a tiny bit overwhelming when they are all in one place. Takes a bit of getting used to. You should be grateful though, you should have seen how they swarmed on that detective that's dating Lanie. By the way, I've met you before, Richard, but who are these other three with you?" They had arrived at the very large backyard to see even more people doing various things.

"This is my mother, Martha, my daughter, Alexis, and her boyfriend, Ashley." Castle said, pointing at each of them as he said their names.

"It's very nice to meet you all. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Jim Beckett, Katie's father. Make yourself at home while you are here. There are various ice chests all over the place with sodas, so help yourself. We'll be barbequing for dinner here in a few hours so feel free to do whatever you want until then. I believe Katie and Lanie, along with those other detectives, are down at the lake with the older kids. However, if you aren't feeling up to getting wet, there is plenty of entertainment going on inside the house."

"I think I'll be staying in the house, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, make yourself at home." Jim gestured at the door and Martha headed inside to mingle while Jim offered to show the other three the way down to the lake.

They walked a short ways down a trail that ended on a decently high cliff over looking the lake. The cliff had a platform built out in front of it, and as they got closer, they could see Lanie and Beckett standing on the edge of it.

Castle was just about to call out to them when Jim grabbed his arm to shush him, and pulled him off to the side while Alexis and Ashley followed.

From their new position, they could look down at the lake and see the giant pillow looking thing floating under the cliff platform. Castle wasn't exactly sure, but it looked like Esposito and Ryan were sitting on the edge of the floating pillow thing.

"Is that really one of those?"

"Yup. Watch." Jim kept his eyes on the two girls, so the three turned their attention to them as well, just in time to see them take a running jump off the edge.

Their eyes followed the two women as they fell down, heading straight for the opposite end of the floating thing.

They watched as they made contact with the float, and as Esposito and Ryan were flung into the air as the end of the float they were sitting on popped up.

Even from all the way up on the cliff, they could hear Beckett and Lanie's evil laughter as they crawled to the end of the float to watch the boys land with a loud splash, make their way back to shore.

It was then that Castle had an idea that had the potential to get him killed.

"Hypothetically, if I were to jump on there now, they would go flying just like Ryan and Esposito, right?"

"Yup, just make sure you jump out away from the platform, and to try and land on your back on the float." With a grin at the older man- who he was starting to love more and more by the minute- Castle turned to give his daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"If Beckett, or Lanie, kills me for this, I just want you to know that I love you, and try to have a good time without me."

"Good luck, Dad. I'll miss you."

Castle took of his shoes and shirt, leaving him in only his swimming trunks before walking over to the platform and looking down, pleased to see that Beckett and Lanie were still sitting exactly where he wanted them.

Feeling he should at least give them a little warning, he ran and jumped off the edge, doing a roll in the air so that he would hit back first, screaming 'I'll avenge you, my fallen comrades!' all the way down.

He hit the float with a soft thud, and smirked as he heard two female voices yelling his name as they flew through the air to land in what was most likely a very cold lake.

Knowing there was no use in running, Castle climbed off the float onto the dock that was conveniently located right next to the float, and waited for the detective and M.E. to swim their way back.

Esposito and Ryan made it back before they did and they 'fed the birds' as they thanked him for getting revenge for them.

Though as much as they were grateful to him, they weren't grateful enough to face the wrath of Beckett, so as soon as she emerged from the water, they took off running.

There was fire in her eyes, and he was starting to regret his decision.

But then she fully climbed up onto the deck, and he was treated to the sight of her very wet body in a bathing suit- bikini top with shorts style bottom, army camouflage pattern- and he decided that he regretted nothing.

He was surely going to die a most likely gruesome death, but he would die a very happy man.


	61. Breaks Rule Number Two

**Characters: Castle, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: ****Rule #2 of the 12th precinct's Homicide Division: You do NOT, under any circumstances, borrow a pen from Ryan.**

**I ask Mogie what I should do for today's One A Day since all the ideas I had were too long ,and it's late and I wanted to do a short one, and after some thinking, I mentioned that I should do another Rule of the Precinct, thinking she'd give me one.**

**She gave me ten. (so far)**

**Sooooooooo as to not spam One A Day with Rules (and to help keep One A Day from being a million chapters long.) I'm going to start posting the Rules chapters as a separate collection. Starting when I write rule 3, probably tomorrow. And I'll probably work on that often, so be sure and story alert "Rules of the Twelfth" when it is uploaded if you still want something written by me every day!**

* * *

One A Day Breaks Rule Number Two...

"Oh come on, where are all the pens?" Castle muttered to himself as he rifled through Beckett's things on her desk, looking for a pen so he could jot down an idea he had for Nikki Heat.

Normally he would just write it on his phone, but it was currently out of battery since he had forgotten to charge it last night.

So now he was stuck doing things the old fashioned way, only it seems that all the pens have gone missing.

He had even gone so far as to dig through Beckett's purse to find one, with no luck of course.

Just as he thought he was going to have to use the lip-gloss he found in her purse to write this idea down, Ryan and Esposito came back from gathering info on their latest case.

"Hey Ryan, can I borrow a pen?"

"Sure, here you go." Ryan absentmindedly pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to Castle, who was just about to take it when he noticed Esposito shaking his head and making frantic 'don't do it' gestures.

He was confused, but took the pen anyway, deciding to ignore Esposito in favor of getting this idea on paper before he forgot it.

Castle quickly pulled the cap off the pen and his fingers came away from the pen wet. When he looked closer, there were definite bite marks on the pen cap.

"Oh! Ewww! That's nasty!" Castle frantically wiped off the spit on a random napkin that was left over from their lunch, and turned to see Ryan sitting at his desk with another pen in his mouth, looking like he didn't know what Castle was freaking out over.

"Dude, I tried to tell you." Esposito just shook his head at his partner, having learned long ago to never borrow one of Ryan's pens.

"I'll never ignore you again. Ever."


	62. Keeps Annoying Ghosts Out Of The Office

**Characters: Castle, Ghost!Johanna**

**Rating: T (For blunt!Johanna)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: ****Ghost!Johanna is making it really, really hard for Castle to write. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So there have been issues going around here lately, and I won't bore you with the details but in addition to some family problems, I'll also either be studying for college (Because I've completely forgotten everything in the year I've been out of highschool) and/or getting a part time job. (How any one expects me to find a job in this little rinky dink town is beyond me, but that's besides the point.) Still not sure exactly whats going to be happening with me soon, but I know either way I'm going to be busier than I have been.**

**I'm going to try my best to still write something every day, but there will be days that I just won't be able to. **

* * *

One A Day Keeps Annoying Ghosts Out Of The Office...

"_Okay seriously, where have you been hiding that badge? You weren't carrying a purse, and that dress is so skin tight, and so very, very short, that I can't possibly figure out where you are hiding it." _

_Instead of answering Rook's question, Nikki just flashed a seductive smirk at him. "Why don't you find out for yourself?" _

"_With pleasure, my dear." Rook moved towards her and-_

"You know, this is kinda awkward to do with you reading over my shoulder." To anyone else, it would seem that Richard Castle was talking to no one because the normal person couldn't see the floating figure of Johanna Beckett behind him.

"Why? Surely you have written while people have looked over your shoulder before."

"Well yes, but this is different..."

"Because you are writing a sex scene between the fictional versions of yourself and my daughter?" Johanna had been very blunt while living, and even more so in death. Which more often than not, had Castle sputtering and trying to think of a reply. Like right now, for instance.

His mouth opened and he tried to form various words, but nothing came out until finally he pointed towards the door.

"Out."

In a truly Beckett fashion, Johanna looked at him with a raised eyebrow- he was well aware of exactly where Beckett got that look from now.

When she didn't move, he repeated himself.

"Out. I can't get anything done with you hovering around me."

"But then what will I do?"

"Go do whatever it is that you've been doing all these years before you started haunting me."

"Nope, no way. You are stuck with me." Johanna crossed her arms, reminding him of a small child who refused to do something.

Lucky for him, and his work, he had a secret weapon.

Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a few pieces of paper with Chinese lettering on them.

"What's that?" She floated closer to him to get a good look, but he walked right past- and slightly through- her to get to the door where he placed the papers on the doorway to his office, just like the old monk he had talked to a while back showed him how to do.

As soon as the talismans were in place, Johanna was sent flying out of his office, coming to a stop after she went through the couch.

"Richard Castle! What did you just do?" Castle cringed at the tone she used when she yelled his name, it sounded exactly like the tone his mother would use to scold him when he was younger.

"I happened to pay a visit to an old monk friend of mine one day when you weren't stalking me, and he gave me these nifty little talismans. I never thought these things actually worked, but it looks like they do. Now, if you don't mind, I have some writing to get done."

He turned on his heel and headed back towards his desk, listening to Johanna complain from the other side of the doorway about how unfair it was to kick her out of his office.

Sitting down at his desk, Castle pulled out a pair of rarely used headphones from his desk drawer and plugged them into his computer, turning up the volume to drown out Johanna's yelling.

He'd let her back in eventually, but right now Rook and Nikki need some quality time together.


	63. Doesn't Ruin Alexander's Plans

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexander**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett is too sick to make her daily trip to Castle's loft, so Alexander changes up his plan a little bit.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**For those who have been asking about Alexander, and special thanks to the person who said a while back that they wanted to see Alexander sucking up Castle. (Sorry, it was a while back and I don't remember who you are, but here you go. XD)**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Ruin Alexander's Plans...

_What is that noise? _Beckett wondered as she rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head, but the whining sound only got louder. A glance at the clock on her bedside table told her it was only an hour after she had called the Captain to let him know she was too sick to come in today. In other words, it was only nearly eight in the morning, way earlier than a sick person should be expected to wake up.

Yet whatever was making that annoying noise didn't seem to care.

On and on the whining continued, gradually getting louder until finally, Beckett had had enough. She shot up in her bed, ready to kill whatever it was, but her plans were interrupted by a severe coughing fit that left her dizzy and flopping back onto her pillows.

She closed her eyes to fight off the dizzy feeling, and when she opened them again she looked around her room, finding what was making that noise.

"Alexander? But-But how are you even...? You're a closet!" Her closet-or more specifically the black hole inside her closet- was whining. Most likely because she hadn't gotten out of bed yet today, and was late for her daily meeting with Castle's bed.

"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere today. Too sick. Now shut up so I can get some sleep and get better." She wasn't sure how she could tell, but Alexander seemed sort of dejected, as if he resigned himself to the fact he wasn't going to get to take her to Castle's loft today.

With a roll of her eyes, Beckett rolled over and settled in to get some much needed sleep. She didn't realize that Alexander had something else in mind for today.

* * *

When Castle woke up late that morning- he had stopped setting his alarm since Beckett woke him up every morning- and there was no evidence that Beckett had been there, he was very confused.

But he didn't worry about it much, he just figured Beckett finally found a way to keep her closet in line.

Deciding he might as well get up and get his day started, Castle headed into his bathroom to do his morning routine before heading towards his closet to change clothes.

His brain registered that his closet was definitely not supposed to be pitch black on the inside just a few seconds too late, he was already being sucked in.

After a few long seconds of floating/traveling through space and time, Castle was being catapulted onto an unfamiliar bed that he had only glimpsed before.

But the angry voice of the bed's owner, that he had landed on, was definitely familiar- even if it did sound very nasally.

"Castle!"

"Uh, hey Beckett..."

"Castle..." She growled out his name, but the menacing effect she was going for was lost when she started coughing.

"Whoa, sounds like you got that virus that's going around."

"Go away, Castle. Alexander will take you back."

"I still can't believe you named it Alexander." Castle smirked at her, and she just rolled over again so she was facing away from him. "But no, I'm not leaving you alone as sick as you are. I know just what to fix for you too!"

Beckett watched Castle rush off to no doubt pilfer through her kitchen, then she turned to glare at Alexander.

"You aren't going to take him back, are you?"

Alexander said 'no'. She wasn't sure how she knew that, or how exactly he said it since there was no sound in the room, but she just knew.

Clearly this cold was affecting her brain, but she'd worry about her sanity later. Right now, her attention was focused on the heavenly smell drifting out of the kitchen as Castle whipped up his famous cold-curing soup.


	64. Ruins Castle's Chances

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Caitlyn**

**Rating: T (A little swearing going on)**

**Genre: Slight Drama/Eventual Romance**

**Summary: When something major changes in Castle's life, he thinks any chance he may have had with Beckett is gone. But is that true?**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Ahem, not really sure where this came from. I just woke up this morning and decided I needed Beckett interacting with a baby... And some how this came out. It's not as cheerful as most of the stuff I write, but I hope you will still like it!**

**(I think I remember seeing a fanfic with a summary that seems like it might be similar to this fic, and I'm sorry if this ended up being similar to that story but I haven't read that story and only realized that it might be similar after I had written this. So sorry if it is, it wasn't my intention to copy it.)**

* * *

One A Day Ruins Castle's Chances...

Call him selfish, or whatever you want, but Castle's first thought when Meredith walked in and handed him a baby, insisting that it was his daughter, was that any chance he had had with Beckett just flew out the window.

It had taken a grand total of ten seconds for Meredith to walk in, dump the baby in his arms, and walk out, completely screwing up any future plans he had fantasized about. After all, he had already had enough baggage- two failed marriages, a mother that lived with him, a playboy reputation, and a teenage daughter- to scare away most women, now he had a new daughter to add to that.

With a sigh, Castle walked to the couch with the baby and baby bag, that Meredith had dropped at his feet earlier, and sat down to go through the bag. Inside the bag was a simple note, telling him that the baby had only been born a few days ago, that she hadn't bothered to name her, and that he was an ass for making her go through that again.

Apparently that visit to his first ex-wife he had made over the summer, during the time that Gina had been mad enough at him to break up with him for two weeks, had come back to haunt him.

The tiny child decided she was hungry, and let her father know by crying as loud as she possibly could, causing him to quickly go through the contents of the bag, grateful that she had actually had enough sense to pack some formula.

Being the old pro that he was, it only took him a few, very loud, minutes to get the formula fixed, and was soon sitting on the couch while his still unnamed daughter ate.

He was extremely mad at himself for getting himself into this mess in the first place, and he was mad at Meredith for surprising him with a kid, again, but he could never be mad at the tiny life resting in his arms. After all, it wasn't her fault that her father couldn't handle being alone when Gina left for those two weeks, and ended up seeking out Meredith.

Even if she did cause his already tiny chance of ever getting with Beckett to become almost non-existent.

A few minutes later, the baby finished her bottle and was content to look up at her father with her wide blue eyes. Castle felt the same feeling of fatherly love when he looked at this tiny baby as he did when he first saw Alexis all those years ago.

He moved her up to his shoulder so that he could burp her, and by the time she was done, she was falling asleep so he was content to just sit there and hold her as she slept.

Until his phone rang, the name 'Beckett' flashing on the screen and he answered it with a heavy heart, knowing he couldn't very well shadow the detective with a tiny baby.

"Good afternoon, detective."

"Hey Castle, hope you didn't have plans for today, we got a body. According to Esposito, you are going to love this one."

"Yeah, about that..."

* * *

"Yo Beckett! Where is Castle?" Esposito called out to the detective as she got out of the car, and ducked under the yellow crime tape to head into the crime scene.

"Said he couldn't come. Something about 'daddy duties'."

"Huh, maybe Alexis is sick or something?" Ryan suggested as he came around the corner where Beckett and Esposito were.

"Dunno, he said he'd come by the precinct later. So what do we have?"

An hour later, they had finished going over the crime scene and were heading up to the homicide floor to run some leads. When the three of them stepped out of the elevator, someone yelled that they were back and the Captain came out of his office, gesturing for them to come inside.

"Sir?" Beckett watched as he closed the door behind them, then walked over to his desk so he was facing them.

"Castle came by earlier to say that he couldn't shadow you any more." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Beckett felt herself turn cold. Her breath caught, and her heart thundered in her chest. All she could manage was a strangled, "why?"

* * *

**Do not fret! There is more! Next part will be uploaded tomorrow!**


	65. Ruins Castle's Chances Or Not

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Caitlyn**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: Slight Drama/Eventual Romance**

**Summary: When something major changes in Castle's life, he thinks any chance he may have had with Beckett is gone. But is that true? Part 2**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**And the second part! **

* * *

One A Day Ruins Castle's Chances...Or Not.

Richard Castle is a complete, and utter, coward. At least when it concerned Beckett.

He could have- should have- told her over the phone, but no, he had chickened out and instead, told her he would explain at the precinct later.

And then when he got to the precinct, baby in tow, and found out they weren't back yet, he chickened out once again. He explained to the Captain, and then high tailed it out of there so he wouldn't run into anyone on the way out.

Now he was sitting in his loft waiting for Alexis to get home from school so they could go shopping for baby stuff together. He hadn't been sure how she would react to the news of suddenly having a baby sister, he thought maybe it would take her a while to warm up to the idea, but as always, she surprised him. In a tone that was entirely too Beckett-like for comfort, his first born daughter had ordered him to wait until she got home so that they could go together.

While he waited for Alexis to get home, he kept himself busy by looking a baby name websites, since the baby was asleep on the couch, and all he had to do was keep an eye on her.

He clicked on a link for a huge online list of names, immediately cringing when it had a list of both boy and girl names, and his eyes immediately focused on one name in particular.

Josh.

As if he wasn't having a bad enough day already, he just had to go and see that name.

And of course, that name made him think of a certain person with that name he knew, and it certainly wasn't Josh, the friendly waiter from Remy's.

Castle shook his head to keep himself from thinking about Josh, but he couldn't help thinking about Beckett.

Kate Beckett. The one woman who wouldn't give into his charms. The woman who he was completely in love with.

The woman who would never be his, she deserved better than him.

She deserved a man who could ride motorcycles with her, and saved lives on an hourly basis, not someone who regularly killed people- in his books- and would be spending the next few years of his life cleaning bottles and changing diapers.

Not that he was mad because he would be doing that, he was happy to be a dad again.

It's just that he had always imagined the circumstances around him becoming a father again a lot differently. His scenarios always involved him staying home with a baby- or two, or three- while their mother, his wife, continued her job of putting murders behind bars.

Now his future was looking very detectiveless.

Heaving large sigh, Castle put his laptop down and moved over so he could stare at his daughter. Call him crazy, but he liked to think that she looked more like Kate than Meredith. She seemed to have Beckett's facial features, with his eyes. Not to mention the fact that it seems that she managed to not inherit the red hair that ran in his family.

Which was completely impossible, and was just his imagination running away with him, but he'd let himself think that she looked like Kate for a while.

In fact, she looked like a 'Kate'.

But even he knew that it would be too creepy to name her 'Katherine'.

But then again, it didn't have to be Katherine, it could be something else like...

"Caitlyn." He said out loud, smiling down at his daughter while she slept. "Definitely Caitlyn. My own little Katie."

He was so deep in thought, thinking about his excellent name choice, that he didn't hear Alexis come in until she was right beside him, calling his name.

"Ah! I didn't even hear you come in!" She had startled him, but he still kept his voice down so he wouldn't wake the baby up.

"Sorry dad, I was trying to be quiet in case she was asleep."

"Thank you, I-" Castle was cut off as the front door opened again, this time loudly letting in Martha.

"Oh Richard! You'll never guess what I...What on earth?" Little Caitlyn Castle let her displeasure at Martha's loud entrance be known, by being even louder.

Quickly scooping the wailing baby up, Castle started walking around and rocking her back to sleep while Martha just looked on in confusion. "Richard, dear, who is that?"

He told her what had happened, and by the time he was through, Katie was back to sleep.

"She should stay asleep for a while, if no one barges in the door yelling, so do you think you two could handle watching her while I take a shower? I didn't get a chance earlier."

Of course they agreed, so Castle placed Caitlyn back in her spot on the couch, and after making sure she wasn't going to wake up, he headed into his room for a shower.

When he shut off the water, after he was done with his shower, he could hear the distinct sound of an unhappy baby coming from the living room, so he quickly hopped out and got dressed.

He had just buttoned up the last button on his shirt when the crying suddenly stopped.

Curious, Castle made his way back out to the living room, and stood frozen to the spot when he realized Beckett was standing in the middle of the living room, holding his daughter.

After the Captain had explained what he knew of the newest Castle, Beckett didn't really think about it, she just told the guys she would be back in a little while and the next thing she knew, she was at the door to Castle's loft.

Her finger was an inch away from the door bell when she thought better of it, and instead knocked on the door.

It only took a few seconds before the door opened to reveal a surprised Alexis.

"Detective Beckett! What are you doing here?"

"Hey Alexis, just thought I would come by and see for myself the reason your dad won't be shadowing me any more, since he left the precinct before we got back earlier." Alexis moved back and let the older woman into the loft, following behind her as she made her way into the living room where Martha was sitting on the couch.

"Kate, darling, how nice it is to see you again."

"You too, Martha." She greeted the actress, but her attention was solely on the baby sleeping next to Martha.

"Wow... I halfway thought that it was just Castle messing with us, but looks like it was the truth. Did she really just drop her off like that?"

Eager to share the story, Martha took some of the pillows off the couch so that Beckett could sit down, and once she did, Martha started telling her everything Castle had told her earlier.

At the end of the story, Martha reached to get a drink from her glass on the coffee table, but it accidentally slipped from her fingers and clattered loudly when it hit the table, thankfully it stayed upright though.

It was, however, loud enough to wake the baby.

Both Alexis and Martha cringed at the loud sound coming from such a small baby, but before either of them could do anything, Beckett scooped her up and started walking around with her.

Within seconds, the loft was quiet again.

"Looks like you are a natural at this, dear." Martha commented while Beckett just gave a little chuckle.

"More like I've just had plenty of practice, I babysat a lot when I was in high school and college."

"That's..." Alexis started to say, but then she noticed her dad standing in the doorway to his office with a dumbfounded expression. "Hey dad, look who stopped by."

Beckett spun around, with the baby resting in her arms, and locked eyes with Castle. They stood there just staring at each other, until Martha coughed and they snapped out of it.

"Hey, Castle."

"Hey...Uh..."

"Sorry to interrupt this incredibly entertaining conversation you two are having, but dad, we need to get a move on if we want to get the shopping done before dinner." Castle looked away from Beckett, and his daughter, to look at the clock, realizing that Alexis was right.

"Shopping with a newborn baby... This is going to be so much _fun._" He grumbled while he slipped his shoes on.

"Oh come on, it won't be that bad. Ooh there's this little place right down the road from here, they have stuff I know you will love. It's called... oh, shoot. I forgot what it's called, but I go there anytime I need a present for one of Lanie's little cousins." Beckett said while Castle took the baby from her and placed her in the car seat Meredith had brought her in earlier.

She was here, and she hadn't left yet. It just wasn't adding up right for Castle. Everything was going well so far, he was just waiting for something to happen.

"Well then, maybe you should come with us so you can show us how it 'won't be that bad' and you can show us that store you were talking about." He hadn't really thought about how she would reply to that, he hadn't really meant to say it in the first place.

"Oh yes, you should! I'm going to need all the help I can get to keep dad from buying every crazy thing he sees." Alexis chipped in, looking at the detective with a pleading look on her face while Castle just mumbled about how he wouldn't do that.

"I don't know..." Seeing that it was going to take something more to convince the detective, Alexis walked over to where Castle had placed Caitlyn, in her car seat, on the couch.

"Little sister of mine, if you want Detective Beckett to come shopping with us, stay asleep." The teen just watched the baby for a few seconds, then turned to the detective. "See? Even she wants you to come."

"Well, guess we gotta give the baby what she wants then. The boys can handle this case by themselves, I suppose."

"Yes!"

Castle watched with a smile on his face as Beckett smiled at Alexis, who was excitedly planning out their whole shopping trip.

Maybe he was wrong- and this was one instance where he would gladly admit to being wrong.

Maybe Caitlyn hadn't ruined his chances after all.

"So Castle, what is her name?" Beckett looked at him, clearly expecting an answer.

Oh boy. How could he possibly explain this? Preferably without being shot for being a creep?

* * *

**So yeah, obviously this one kinda ran away with me so I'm sorry if it ended up being kinda weird...**


	66. Doesn't Keep Jordan Shaw Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Agent Shaw**

**Rating: k**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Jordan Shaw comes back to the precinct and finds out Beckett and Castle still aren't together.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Today is a pretty special day. A year ago today, I uploaded my very first Castle fanfic. And today is also the day Body of Proof (staring Dana Delany) premiers. **

**So since my first fanfic was inspired by the two parter Dana starred in, and because of the premier, I figured it would be nice to have Jordan Shaw pop in for a visit. XD**

**(Also for those of you asking about yesterday's chapter: Yes there will most likely be more to that storyline in the future. And special thanks to Hime-chan for her wonderful idea for that storyline.)**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Jordan Shaw Away...

"You two _still_ aren't together?" Both Castle and Beckett jumped at the loud booming voice that suddenly came from right behind them.

Together, the two turned around to see Special Agent Jordan Shaw standing behind them with her hands on her hips. "Un-be-lievable. It's been nearly a year since I've seen you guys. Why are you not together?"

"Uh..." Castle started, but then looked at Beckett, wondering what in the world he should say.

"It's-"

"If you say 'it's complicated', I'm going to shoot you." Shaw cut Beckett off before she could finish, and Beckett just closed her mouth, because that's exactly what she was going to say. Seeing that Beckett didn't know what to say either, Castle tried to save her by changing the subject.

"So, Agent Shaw, what brings you here? Could it be that you missed my insightful theories?"

"That Luthor case you guys are working? We are taking over. But that doesn't matter right now. You," She grabbed Beckett's arm and pulled her out of her chair. "Are coming with me. We obviously need to talk. What's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?"

Beckett looked pleadingly over her shoulder at Castle, and Ryan and Esposito who were standing off to the side with Agent Avery, but they knew better than to stand in the way of Jordan Shaw.

The elevator doors shut on Beckett's slightly terrified look, and suddenly Agent Avery realized something.

"What about the case?"

It looks like they are going to have to solve it on their own.

* * *

**Watch Body of Proof tonight at 10/9c on ABC! Show our Special Agent some love!**


	67. Keeps Separate Drinks Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: k**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle and Beckett each got candy and popcorn on their 'movie date', but what about drinks?**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Woooow okay, so a ton of you asked if I would be continuing the Jordan Shaw chapter. I think it's a safe bet to say that most likely all of the story lines here will have another part or two to them eventually. When I can't think of what to write, I go back through the chapters I've already written on here and see if I can get ideas to continue one of them or something. So yes, there most likely will be another Shaw chapter.**

**I'm having issues with my hand so these might be on the short side for a while. It's kinda awkward to type when your left hand ring and pinky finger are like halfway asleep and aren't really responding to commands very well. Like I can move them and stuff, but it's just odd. I can't really explain it.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps Separate Drinks Away...

Castle warily glanced down at the extremely large soda sitting in the cup holder that was between him and Beckett.

Earlier at the concession stand, when she had asked him if it was okay to share, he had been too busy trying to decide what candy to get, so he had said 'yes' without really thinking about it.

Now that they were settled in their seats, happily munching on their candy and popcorn, he was wondering if maybe he should have paid more attention.

He had eaten too much popcorn, and really needed a drink.

But he wasn't sure if he was allowed to.

The beginning of the movie finally started showing on the big screen in front of them, and Castle watched as Beckett reached out, took a drink of the drink, and then placed it back down in its spot.

"Oh you are so going to love this, Castle. I can't believe you've never seen it before."

"Never had the chance I guess." They fell quiet and both watched the screen intently for a few minutes, before his throat reminded him that it still needed attention.

A glance at the drink, then a glance at Beckett.

He was being ridiculous. It was just a drink.

With only one straw. The immature kid inside of him wanted to point out the fact that it would be an indirect kiss.

Knowing that he had to be crossing some invisible line- even though Beckett was the one to suggest sharing in the first place- he picked up the huge drink with both hands, and took a big swallow.

Beckett never even took her eyes off the screen, even when he fumbled to put it back in the cup holder.

Apparently, she didn't think it was as big a deal as he did.

What she didn't realize, was that Castle planned to spend the whole moving plotting out different ways to get them to share drinks in the near future.

After all, an indirect kiss was better than nothing. He would take what he could get.

For now.


	68. Keeps The Last Piece Of Candy Away From

**Characters: Castle/Beckett**

**Rating: K+ (For tonsil hockey)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett always gets the last piece of candy. Always.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Last Piece Away From Castle...

Castle absentmindedly stared at the murder board while snacking on a box of Beckett's Junior Mints.

He didn't even realize he had just popped the last one into his mouth, until Beckett was suddenly right in front of him, hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Castle, that better not have been the last one."

"Um..." Castle looked down at the now empty box in his hands and quickly hid it behind his back, but she had obviously already seen it.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and you manage to devour half the box? What was our agreement regarding candy, hmm?" Beckett was moving closer to him with each word, and he kept backing up because he wasn't sure what she was going to do.

"Um, our agreement was that you always got the last piece?"

"Yes, that's it. I _always_ get the last piece." A quick glance around revealed that they were completely alone in the bullpen, so she stepped even closer to him until she was right up against him.

Before he even realized that her body was pressed tightly against his, her lips were on his. Within seconds, she had her tongue in his mouth and he finally realized what was happening. He still wasn't sure what was happening, but he definitely wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth this time.

Reluctantly- even though she would never admit it- she pulled away from his lips and moved so that her mouth was next to his ear.

"Always." She whispered and chuckled a little as she felt a shudder go through him.

"Bec-Kate, what..." Castle just stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face until Beckett stuck her tongue out at him.

Resting on her tongue was the last Junior Mint.


	69. Keeps Pooky Away

**Characters: Castle/Beckett, Pooky**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett has an unexpected guest in her apartment and calls Castle for help.**

**So I may or may not be uploading this from the neighbor's wifi connection...**

**I'm sure you have all be wondering where I have been, well... I've been stuck with pretty much no internet. For the past four days it would come on for maybe two hours- spread out over the day- and then go back off. So I went over to someone else's house two days ago, only to find out that my stupid laptop wouldn't connect to their router because it's a stupid computer and has issues with connecting to certain routers. So I was able to get on the iPad and tweet, tumble, and check mail. But I can't actually upload from there though I can write on there. So I was still unable to update.**

**Then I get home yesterday and the internet is ON! Finally! I got on, did normal internet things and then started writing. And it amazingly stayed on, I thought finally the internet company had gotten their crap together and fixed it.**

**I had two sentences left to go on this, and it went out.**

**(Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall, repeatedly.)**

**Anyway, I will try to update as much as I can. Though it will probably depend on when my internet is working. I'll try my best to update tomorrow. We will see what happens though lol.**

**You absolutely must go read "You Were Not Asking, Very Loudly" by the ever so wonderful MorgieSan. It's so adorable!**

**Thanks to MorgieSan for the idea for this chapter. If I have snake nightmares, I'm totally blaming you.**

**I do NOT own Castle**

* * *

_One A Day Keeps Pooky Away..._

"Breaking News: A venomous Egyptian cobra went missing from New York's Bronx Zoo-"

The TV announcer didn't get a chance to finish before Beckett switched channels, trying to find something decent to watch so she could relax. Worrying about a snake escaping wasn't exactly going to help her do that.

A few minutes later, she gave up on trying to find something to watch on TV, and instead decided to soak in a hot bath, with a good book, for a while.

She walked into her bathroom to start filling the tub with water, only to see something slither out from behind the toilet when she leaned over to turn on the water.

_A venomous Egyptian cobra went missing from New York's Bronx Zoo..._Echoed through her mind. _What are the chances?_

The dark snake darted out towards her and she did a rather impressive jump that propelled her through her bathroom door, and into her bedroom.

Unfortunately for her, it felt the need to follow her.

Another jump, and she was up on the bed, pressed against the wall. Now what was she going to do?

She could take down murderers, not flinch at huge hairy spiders, and do pretty much everything else with no problem, but snakes? Oh no, she did _not_ deal well with snakes.

When she was four years old, Johanna and Jim Beckett took her to a zoo that, at the time, would let you hold a giant snake.

Neither Johanna, or little four year old Kate, were too interested in holding the snake, but Jim was.

The zoo keeper draped the giant yellow snake over Jim's shoulders and he picked up its head in one hand, holding its tail in the other.

The snake wasn't hurting him at all, and it wasn't going to, but they didn't know that little Kate Beckett had been watching a show about boa constrictors squeezing the life out of their victims just a few days ago.

When the snake started to move, she came unglued, thinking it was going to kill her father.

Thus started her life long fear of snakes. Even smaller ones like this one, which was probably a little less than two feet.

So realistically, she should just walk over there with her small bedroom trash can, scoop it up, and call animal control to come get it. Then she could go back to her relaxing evening.

_But..._ She thought as she saw the creature slither across the floor at the foot of her bed. _That's not going to happen._

* * *

"Why Beckett, missing me already? You just saw me a few hours ago before the Captain told us to leave." As always, he answered the phone in a way that made her roll her eyes, even though he couldn't see it. Good thing he couldn't see the small smile that crept up on her face as well.

Until she saw the snake going across the floor, and remembered why she was calling.

"I need you to come over and help me with something. But only if you promise not to laugh, or mention this to anyone. Ever."

"Are you okay? Is something wrong, Kate?" He went from joking to serious in an instant, fearing something was really wrong.

"I'm fine, Castle. Just come over, please?"

"I'll be right there."

True to his word, he was there in ten minutes- which was surprising, especially in New York traffic.

"Kate?" Castle knocked on the door, and Beckett realized they had a small problem since her door was locked. There was no way she was setting even a single toe on the floor until the snake was gone.

Thinking quickly, she pulled out her phone and dialled him again.

"Kate? What's going on?"

"I can't exactly open the door for you, so you'll have to use the extra key. If you reach up to the top of the door jamb on the left, there is a small part where you can pull it out slightly. The key is in there."

"Okay," Castle fiddled around with the door jamb until he pulled out the key. "Got it."

"Good, I'm in the bedroom. Watch your feet."

Had she lost her mind? He was starting to think so, since she wasn't making any sense at all.

The key turned in the lock easily, and he quickly stepped through the door, and shut it behind him.

He was prepared for whatever he would find.

Or at least he thought he was.

"Ah! Snake!"

* * *

When it became clear to Beckett that she wasn't going to be able to actually get rid of the snake by herself, she had decided to call Castle.

It was either him or Esposito- Ryan was just as terrified of snakes as she was- and Castle was more likely to keep quiet about this than Esposito was.

But now, as they both stood fearfully on top of her bed, she realized that hadn't been a good idea.

"So much help you are."

"Well sorry, you could have mentioned there was a _snake_ in your apartment!"

"Aren't you supposed to be a man? Go get rid of it!"

"Aren't you supposed to be a tough as nails detective? You go get rid of it."

They argued back and forth for a little while before they realized this was getting them nowhere.

It was time to bring in reinforcements. Hopefully someone that would actually be helpful, this time.

* * *

"Seriously guys? You thought it was the Egyptian Cobra that got loose? They already caught that, and it's not even the same color. It wasn't even going to hurt you!" Esposito clutched his sides, because he was laughing so hard, after he had gotten rid of the snake for them.

"Yeah well, it's not like I knew what color it was supposed to be." Esposito didn't know just how close Beckett was to pulling a 'Lanie' on him and smacking him just to get him to shut up.

"I really am sorry about this detective, I don't know how in the world she got out. She's really playful so I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention to her and she went to find someone else. I promise it will never happen again." Beckett's elderly neighbor, Mrs. Stevens, apologized once again to the frazzled detective.

Which just make Esposito laugh harder when he recalled how he had walked out with the snake in hand and found Mrs. Stevens looking for her beloved Pooky, who had gotten out on her.

"It's okay, really." Mrs. Stevens nodded to Beckett, then turned to go back into her apartment next door when Pooky decided she wanted to say goodbye to her new found 'friends' and stuck her head out to both Castle and Beckett, making them jump back quickly.

Esposito was now lying on the floor, gasping for air because he was laughing so hard. He was pretty sure he was going to die laughing here, but it was _so _worth it.


	70. Keeps Castle Away From The Door

**Characters: Beckett, Alexis, Castle**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor/Family**

**Summary: After her fall out with Lauren, Alexis turns to a certain detective for advice.**

**This goes along with chapter 51.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Uploading two today, just because I can. And I'm being sure to use my sporadic internet connection the best as possible and since its on for now, I'm uploading now.**

* * *

_One A Day Keeps Castle Away From The Door..._

"But it's so weird. It's not like me to do things like that. I punched her! My own friend! Granted she started it, but that's not the point." Alexis fell back on her bed, only halfway dressed for school, deciding that getting ready could wait for a little bit.

"It's not like fifteen-sixteen year old you to do that, but seventeen year old you is growing up and learning to stand up for herself. I think it happens to most people. Once you get around eighteen-nineteen- earlier in your case, since you are so mature for your age I guess- sometimes you don't even notice it but you start, oh I don't know how to explain this...Er, hold on." Laying the phone down on her bed, Beckett used both hands to pull on her stubborn socks, then picked up the phone again. "I guess it's kinda like you start to be more of your own person, if that makes any sense? Like you are starting to move out from under your parents thumb a little and you start making decisions that are more of what you would do, not what your parents would want you to do? Something like that at least."

Even though she didn't really want to, Alexis pulled herself off her bed and finished getting ready for school. "You know, that actually kinda makes sense. I get what you mean, at least."

"That's good, because I don't really know how to explain it. Plus, I bet you and Lauren will be friends again in no time."

"Really?" Alexis paused for a second while changing shirts. "You think so?"

"Yeah, I had this friend, Jordan, and man we fought worse than any enemies I had during my school years. One day we would be gushing over the latest hottie in school, then the next we would be at each other's throats. Usually over the guy we were talking about the day before too."

"Wow, and you always made up?"

"Yeah, eventually. Usually we wouldn't talk to each other for a while, then one day one of us would go over to the other and we'd start chatting like normal. So I wouldn't worry about Lauren too much, especially if her reason was because she was jealous of Ashley taking up all your time. Give it some time though, don't ignore her, but don't go out of your way to talk to her today and see what happens. I bet she will be coming back to you in no time."

The clock turned to show seven am, and both Alexis and Beckett were ready to face the day.

"Thank you, I'll do that. Have a great day, try not to let dad get on your nerves too much."

"You too, Lex."

* * *

Later that morning, Castle came in with a box filled to the brim with different kinds of muffins.

Before the rest of the homicide division could sniff out the treats, he brought the box over to Beckett so she could pick which ones she wanted first.

"Oh wow, these look delicious! What's the occasion?" She asked as she picked out two muffins, blueberry and apple.

"To say thank you."

"For what?"

"Nothing." Castle turned around with a smile and walked away from her, putting the muffins in the break room and calling attention to the muffins existence once he was well away from the break room so he wouldn't get caught in the stampede of officers.

She was curious, of course, but she didn't question him when he came back. She knew it wouldn't take long before he told her himself.

"I expected Alexis to mope about and drag her feet about going to school today, but when she practically skipped down the stairs this morning and was in a very good mood, I thought to myself that I was definitely going to have to thank whoever made that happen."

_Oh, so that's it._ She thought as he gave her a smile and a pointed look, that she ignored in favor of paper work.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Uh huh. Deny all you want, Beckett. I know." He let the subject drop after that, and they spent the rest of their day like normal.

* * *

The next morning found Castle with his ear pressed against his daughters bedroom door, listening as she laughed at something the detective said. It sounded like they were getting ready to hang up, so he was just about to move away from the door when it suddenly opened and he fell forward to land flat on his face.

"Good morning, dad. Kate wants to talk to you." Alexis leaned down and handed him the phone before going downstairs to get some breakfast, leaving Castle alone with Beckett on the phone.

"Uh, good morning detective! Wonderful weather we are having, isn't it?" He knew he was in trouble, and it probably didn't help that that was all he could think to say.

"Castle..."

"Yes?"

"Do we need to talk about how inappropriate it is to eavesdrop on your daughter?"

"No?"

"Good. Do it again, and you'll be shadowing Ryan and Esposito for a week. Or better yet, I'm sure Perlmutter would be happy to have an assistant. Yes, definitely Perlmutter."

Needless to say, Castle never went near Alexis' door at all, when they were chatting, ever again.


	71. Means Castle Wins The Game

**Characters: Beckett, Lanie, Castle**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor/Family**

**Summary: Beckett turns down lunch with Lanie because Castle is bringing her lunch.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Ya know, it's really hard to make interesting summaries for these sometimes...**

* * *

_One A Day Means Castle Wins The Game..._

Kate Beckett walked through the double doors leading into the morgue to find her best friend standing over the victim of their latest case.

"Lanie." The detective said to get her attention, and the M.E. quickly turned around.

"Hey! I was just about to call you to see if you wanted to grab some lunch with me?"

"Oh sorry, I can't. Castle is bringing lunch here in a little bit."

Lanie raised her eyebrow at that. "Oh really? You got Writer Boy bringing you lunch every day now? Javier tells me this isn't the first time you two have had lunch together."

"It's not what you think." Beckett watched as Lanie finished whatever she was doing to the body, then they both headed to the opposite side of the room where they each sat on a clean autopsy table.

"Really? 'Cause it sure sounds exactly like what I think."

"Nope, it's a game-"

"The game of love? Dating? Becoming more than friends?" Lanie interrupted quickly, getting excited that maybe the two of them were finally getting somewhere.

"Lanie..."

"Sorry, go on."

"As I was saying, a game. Castle tries to figure out what food I am in the mood for. It keeps him busy and out of my hair for a while, so I'm all for it."

"That's so cute! Does he get it right sometimes?"

"Yeah, nearly every day for the last week. But not today though. Most days it's been something I eat often, but today I'm thinking of something different. Something I've gotten maybe once in the past year."

After that the two women started talking about various other things until Beckett's phone started ringing.

"Beckett."

"Where are you? I have lunch." Castle's voice came over the phone line, along with Esposito and Ryan's voices in the background so she knew he was in the bull pen.

"I'm with Lanie, I'll be there in a few minutes." Then she added as an afterthought, "What did you get?"

"Veggie sub from Subway. I made sure to have them put that cheese on there that you like too."

"How did you...?" There was no way. How could he have possibly known that?

"Ah, now that would ruin the fun of the game, wouldn't it?"

The phone line went dead and Beckett just stared at her phone in shock for a minute while Lanie looked on.

"Okay, now that is walking the fine line between cute and creepy."

"Definitely edging closer to creepy."


	72. Keeps Mr Papaya Nearby

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexis, Caskett kids.**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Family**

**Summary: Future!Fic. All Alexis wants to do for her birthday is spend the day at the park with her parents and siblings. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So this was originally just written for MorgieSan to cheer her up, and I wasn't going to post it but she said I could, so I did.**

**(Since it was written for Mogie, it has a few small Fringe references, but you won't notice unless you watch Fringe.)**

* * *

_One A Day Keeps Mr. Papaya Nearby..._

"You sure this is all you want to do for your birthday, Lex?" Kate Beckett-Castle and Alexis Castle were sprawled out on a picnic blanket in the middle of a small park they had found a while back, enjoying the nice spring day.

"Definitely. I've got so much stuff going on at college that it's nice to just relax like this. Plus, as long as I'm with you guys, I'm happy."

"Even when Olivia spat up on you earlier?" Beckett gestured to the clean shirt the now young woman was wearing after the youngest Castle had decided to greet her older sister by spitting up on her.

"Even then. Though I'm starting to realize that I should have brought more clothes."

"Oh well, it will give us an excuse to go shopping, just the two of us. We can stick your father with the kids and have a girl's day, before you head back to college."

"Now that sounds awesome." The two women fell silent and looked out over the park where Castle was helping one year old Olivia slide down one of the kiddy slides.

It wasn't helping that Peter, the two and a half year old, was constantly trying to get his father's attention by poking him with his toy sword.

Olivia made it down the slide and Castle decided he should probably pay attention to his son before he developed a bruise.

He carried the little girl over and placed her on the blanket beside Beckett, then went back to engage his son in a sword battle.

Olivia was happy to crawl around between her mother and older sister, until she realized something was missing.

Her favorite toy was gone.

The tiny girl used her very impressive set of lungs to let this fact be known, and Castle came rushing over with his son on his back.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, she just started... Oh god, where is Mr. Papaya? That's why she is crying, we gotta find it!" Kate started frantically looking around for the toy, but little Olivia's stuffed fruit toy was no where to be found.

"Here, I'll hold her and see what I can do while you guys search for it." Alexis picked up the wailing baby and started rocking her, but it was doing nothing to quiet her.

The husband-wife team split up to do a thorough search of the park for the elusive Mr. Papaya, covering the ground effectively by working together.

"Why Livie crying?" Little Peter plopped himself down in front of his older sister and stared at the crying baby.

"Mr. Papaya has gone missing, you don't know where it is do you?"

The toddler shook his head and then tried distracting his little sister with various things, trying to get her to stop crying.

"Is okay Livie. Mommy will find Misser Papaya for you. Mommy can do anything! Can't she, Lexie?"

"Of course she can."

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Castle came up behind them holding the run away Mr. Papaya. "I found him, just so you know little mister." He said to his son while ruffling his hair.

Peter looked up at his father with a strange expression on his face. "Daddy, you not supposed to lie."

"That's exactly right, it's not good to lie like daddy." Kate came up behind Castle, plucked the toy out of his hands and handed it to the baby who immediately calmed down when Mr. Papaya was in her line of sight.

"B-But...I really did find it..." Castle plopped down next to Alexis to sulk at the fact that his son was clearly taking after his mother. Especially when he got reprimanded again.

"No lie, daddy!"


	73. Keeps Sun Burns Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: It was one of those very rare times that Beckett should have listened to Castle.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

***Pokes the internet modem* I hate you. I really do. Y U NO WORK BETTER? Siiiigh, internet guy came out like a week ago and replaced the modem (which I had to buy) but now it's still cutting out a lot. But if I call them back they will end up charging me a service charge for them to get their butts over here and attempt to figure out whats wrong. And since gas is currently $3.69 a gallon at the cheapest place in town, I can't exactly afford that. So I shall wait. And hope it starts behaving soon, or I move. Either one works.**

**Anyway so the point of that is, internet is still being a 'gina' so updates are still going to be sporadic at best for now.**

* * *

_One A Day Keeps Sun Burns Away..._

"I told you you shouldn't have worn that shirt." Castle unlocked the door to their hotel room, pushed it open and let Beckett go first, trying not to stare at the bright red skin on her back where her shirt didn't cover.

"Shut it, Castle." She growled out between clenched teeth as she stiffly made her way into the hotel room, the sun-burnt skin on her back protesting with each tiny movement.

"I'll uh, I'll be back in a few minutes." Giving him a halfhearted wave to let him know she heard him, she very, very slowly lowered herself down onto the edge of her bed, not even bothering to wonder where he was going right now.

With a lot of groaning, she managed to get herself into a position where she was lying on her stomach, arms prone at her sides.

For once, she probably should have listened to Castle, or at least slathered on some sunscreen.

Katherine Beckett was not a woman who was shocked easily, and on the rare occasion she was, she didn't make a sound and played it off as if she wasn't shocked at all.

But when Castle came back, without her even noticing, and squeezed a bottle of extremely cold green gel onto the hot, burnt skin of her back, she screamed and tried to get away.

"Beckett geez, it's not _that_ cold." He placed a firm hand on her lower back- the part that wasn't burnt- to hold her down so she wouldn't irritate her back anymore.

"Castle! What the hell was that?"

"It will help, trust me. Alexis used to get sun-burnt all the time when she was little, and this stuff is the best. So just hold still."

Struggling would just make things worse, so she begrudgingly settled back down so he could finish what he started.

Castle squeezed the bottle over her back once more- Only because he needed more to cover her whole back, not because he wanted to hear her reaction, really- and then started smoothing the gel over her back.

He took his time so that he made sure he got all the burnt areas covered- not because he enjoyed the feeling of her skin under his finger tips, definitely not that.

Beckett wasn't protesting anymore, in fact she had relaxed considerably under his hands, so he decided that he was going to keep rubbing until she made him stop.

Little did Castle know, Beckett was enjoying this just as much as he was, maybe even a little more, and she wasn't going to tell him to stop.

They would spend all night like this.

Or at least they would have, if room service hadn't interrupted them thirty minutes later with dinner that Castle had ordered earlier.


	74. Doesn't Keep The Hormones At Bay

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett hates being pregnant.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**o.o Hi Nikki's readers! So I had this idea, and no where else to put it, so I asked if I could leave it with you all, and she was like, "Duh, of course Mogie!" So... anyway, here you go .**

**(I, hallow/Nikki, promise to actually upload something that I actually wrote tomorrow. I might actually start my LAish fic... But until then, enjoy the wonderful Mogie's work.)**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The Hormones At Bay..._

Beckett pulled the shirt over her head and tugged it into place over her protruding stomach. She smoothed out the material and glared at herself in the mirror. She was so round. With a resigned sigh she shifted around in front of the glass until her back quit hurting.

"Well, don't you look nice."

"Bite me, Lanie." Beckett crossed her arms on top of the belly and shifted her glare from the reflection to the ME.

"Touchy, touchy. Girl, it was a compliment. Not me teasing you. Turn around." Lanie motioned her for her friend to turn, and once she had she began to fix her hair.

"Why are you doing this?" Beckett asked lowering herself down to the bench. She chose to ignore the dirty look Lanie gave her in the mirror.

"Because I'm your friend, Kate, and I want you to look good," the doctor responded, starting again on Kate's hair.

"I hate this."

"Hate what?"

"I can't stand. I can't sit. I swear to God I have to pee every thirty minutes. I have to wear flats. I hurt. I can't breathe. I. Hate. This."

"You sound like a five-year-old right now, you know that right?" Lanie secured the clip in her hair and sat next to her on the bench.

"Bite me."

Lanie whacked her on the arm. "Say it again, Katherine. I don't know why you're so up in arms over this. It's just an undercover op."

"An op with Castle. Who I have to pretend to be married to."

"Not to mention carrying his child." Lanie thumped the fake belly and grinned evilly at her friend.

"Bite me," Kate groused reaching for her shoes in the locker.

Lanie gave her one good Gibbs slap and walked away. "I told you to watch it, Kate," she called over her shoulder as she left the locker room.


	75. Doesn't Keep The LSD Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexis**

**Rating: T (For LSD)**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Beckett manages to get some LSD in her system during a take down.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**For people who do not watch Fringe, this is going to seem very random. For those that do, you will know where I got the idea from.**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The LSD Away..._

Richard Castle was zoned out, focused on his writing when his phone rang. Absentmindedly, he reached out and answered it.

"Castle." Not his normal greeting, but he was too focused on Nikki and Rook to think of anything creative.

"Yo Castle, we got a problem." Esposito's slightly panicked voice on the other end of the line instantly snapped him out of his daze.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Beckett," As soon as he said that, Castle's mind started coming up with horrifying scenarios. Of course the one day he doesn't shadow her, something happens. He was so deep in his thoughts, that it took him a minute to realize Esposito was talking again. "-got the LSD laced drink that scumbag was trying to give to some woman who was with him all over her during the take down."

"How much LSD was in there?" High Beckett? If he wasn't so worried about the concerned tone in Esposito's voice, he would find the thought funny.

"We aren't sure, but a lot."

"Is she going to be okay?" Now the panic was in his voice as well.

"Yeah it wasn't enough to do any real damaged to her, but that's not really the problem."

"Well? What is then?"

"She uh... She kinda disappeared while Ryan and I were getting the guy in cuffs. We've got officers looking all around for her but we can't find her, so I was hoping you might know where Beckett might go?"

"Yeah, I might have a few ideas. Where are you? I'll meet you there." Esposito gave him the address and with a quick goodbye, and small explanation, to his mother and daughter, he was out the door.

If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed the very _giggly_ detective coming into his building, making her way up to his loft. They had passed each other, but one was too high to notice, and the other was in too much of a hurry.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, after checking out nearly every place he could think of that she might be, Castle's phone started ringing.

"Hey Pumpkin," He said when he noticed Alexis was calling him. "I still haven't found her yet, so I probably won't be home for a while."

"Yeah, I know dad. That's why I'm calling, she's here."

"Really? But-" He didn't get to say anything more before Beckett apparently stole the phone away from his daughter.

"Hi Castle." Castle caught Esposito and Ryan's eyes, and motioned them over towards him.

"Beckett. Why are you at the loft? And why did you leave without Ryan and Esposito?" Ryan and Esposito both let out a sigh of relief and started calling off the search for her when they realized she was safe.

"I'm a big girl, Castle. I can go where ever and whenever I please."

"Not when you have LSD in your system you can't."

"I do not have LSD in my system."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

And then there was silence.

"Kate?" Faintly in the background he heard Alexis saying something about a flour bag and an ice cream scoop before a slightly out of breath Alexis came back on the phone.

"Uh dad? Please get back here soon before she kills us, or the house." Alexis pulled the phone away from her mouth and covered it with her hand, but he could still clearly hear her telling Beckett not to put the bell pepper in the toaster.

"Hurry." Was the last thing she said before she hung up on him.

* * *

Castle walked into his loft a good ten minutes later, not knowing what he was expecting, but silence was not it.

As he walked further into the loft, he could hear some noise coming from upstairs, but just as he was about to head up there, he heard a sound from the kitchen as well.

The living room had looked the same as when he had left it, but the kitchen definitely was not the same.

It looked like someone had dropped a flour bomb in his kitchen.

Or someone had went through it slinging flour with an ice cream scoop, according to Martha who was sitting at the bar- despite the mess- drinking a glass of wine.

"Did she really do that?" He was having a hard time picturing Beckett doing that.

"Yup. One minute she is lucid and normal, then the next she is off having animated conversations with your collection of Tupperware bowls."

"I see...And uh, where is she now?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"Upstairs with Alexis, hopefully washing off all that flour. What you see in here is only half the bag, the rest was on her and Alexis."

Only half the bag? He was thinking she had emptied four bags, judging by the amount of flour caking nearly every surface in the kitchen.

Right. First things first. Call the house keepers and get them to come in as soon as they could.

Castle left his mother to her wine, and headed into the kitchen to call the house keepers when Beckett came down the stairs.

In a towel.

A very, very short towel.

"Beckett!" Castle's squeak caught the detectives attention and she turned towards him.

"Oh hey, Castle." She seemed lucid enough, but she was acting like absolutely nothing was wrong, so Castle was still wary.

"Beckett?"

"Yes?"

"You know you are only wearing a towel, right?" She looked at him like he was nuts for saying that.

"Uh, you feeling okay?" The next thing he knew, her hand- damp hand- was on his forehead, checking for a fever. Which also meant her wet body was very, very close to him.

"F-Fine. I'm fine." Gently he pulled her hand away from his forehead and took a step back, putting some much needed space between them.

"Clearly not, if you can't tell the difference between a towel and a very pretty sparkly dress."

"Uh, right. Dress..." While he figured out what he was going to do with a half naked Beckett, her attention got distracted by something, only she could see, flying around the room.

Beckett started following the flying thing around the room, and Castle could see they were about to have a problem.

Her towel was slipping, and she didn't seem to care.

The bad part is, is that he couldn't look away. He knew she would kill him, but he just didn't have the will power to pull his eyes away from the towel as it slowly loosened.

The towel completely fell just as Alexis came down the stairs and he just couldn't stare with his daughter right there so he closed his eyes and turned around before he saw anything.

"Watch her for a minute, will you?" He called over his shoulder as he headed into his office, and then to his room that was connected to his office.

Quickly he pulled out a soft button down shirt of his and headed back out, closing his eyes as he got close to the living room.

"Help her put this on, please. Then maybe she could borrow some pants or those leggings you two seem to like from you?" Alexis walked over and took the shirt from her father, and quickly wrestled the detective into it.

"Come on, Detective Beckett. Let's go get you dressed."

"But I am dressed. I-" She was undoubtedly going to argue more, but Castle caught her attention and she started walking towards him with wide eyes, claiming that he was 'shiny'.

Then, she started poking him. In the chest, then in sides when he twisted away from her so she wouldn't find out just how insanely ticklish he was.

He backed up, and she walked forward, until he was trapped between the couch and Beckett, who was still only wearing his shirt.

She got a strange twinkle in her eye, and he just knew she was up to something that would not end well for him.

But just as she was about to reach for him, she glanced down at her bare legs.

"Why am I not wearing any pants?"

Alexis, who had been standing off to the side since she didn't really know what to do until now, spoke up, coming to grab the detective's arm. "I have some pants you can wear upstairs."

Thankfully, Beckett followed her upstairs and got fully dressed without incident.

Which was something Castle was both disappointed and grateful for.

He thought maybe she was coming out of it, but it turned out just to be a short lucid moment. All too soon she was having conversations with the remote control about how nail polish does not taste like it's supposed to. Which of course prompted both Alexis and Castle to frantically check the house for empty bottles of nail polish, but thankfully they found none, meaning she hadn't drank any.

As entertaining as Beckett on LSD was, he couldn't wait until Lanie came by to take her home and watch over her for the night.

* * *

Lanie was late.

She was supposed to have been there half an hour ago, but no sign of her yet.

When the doorbell finally rang, Castle all but ran towards it, and threw it open to see Esposito.

"Where's Lanie?"

"Well about that... You know how she had flown out to the west coast to visit some family? Well she was supposed to be back two hours ago but her flight got delayed until tomorrow because of some nasty storms they are having back there. So yeah, sorry bro, you're stuck with her."

Castle just looked at him blankly, trying to figure out how he, and his loft, were going to survive the night.

"Oh come on," Esposito said when Castle just continued to stare at him. "She can't be that bad."

Castle just opened the door wider so the detective could see Beckett lying under the coffee table, giggling to herself as she blew bubbles.

"Dude..." Esposito slowly started backing away from the loft. "Uh well... See you tomorrow!"

And then, the Castle clan was left alone with Beckett.

Would they survive the night? No one knew...


	76. Doesn't Keep The 'Something You Should K

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "There's something you need to know..." **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I feel like I've been neglecting One A Day recently... But I've been working on Nights Spent With You and working on a new chapter for Ohana.**

**(I feel like my titles are getting worse and worse. .)**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The 'Something You Should Know's Away..._

After nearly three years, Castle and Beckett had finally managed to end up in bed together.

Fully clothed, but it was a start.

After a case that had very nearly torn both of them apart, both physically and emotionally, they had finally given into the feelings they both had, and ended up falling asleep together in his bed after a long make-out session.

Now the sun had risen and Castle was awake, desperately hoping and praying she wouldn't regret everything that they had said the night before, and run away this morning.

"Morning." Beckett mumbled into his chest a few minutes later as she snuggled deeper into him.

"Good morning," He took a deep breath, deciding to just go ahead and get it over with. "Are you, uh... Do you...Still mean what you said? Last night?"

His heart was beating so hard against his chest, he was absolutely sure she could hear, if not feel, it while her head was resting on his chest.

It only increased when she looked up at him with a slightly worried and wary look.

"There's something you need to know..." And just like that, his heart that had been beating so frantically before, came to a stand still.

No no no no no no. Please no, she couldn't do this to them. Not after all the progress they had made in their relationship.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize she was moving until he could feel her warm breath on his lips as she spoke.

"I'd make a horrible girlfriend." Her lips gently pressed against his once, before moving back just the tiniest bit to continue talking. "I work crazy hours, we'd hardly ever get to go out on dates. I don't like long walks on the beach, and I don't like all those fancy dinner places you always seem to take women to. I'm not exactly what you would call a 'sharer', and it's hard for me to be open with my feelings."

Castle's heart had finally started beating again, resuming a normal pace even as he rose up slightly and captured her lips in a kiss.

"Well then, there is something you should know as well. I'd make a horrible boyfriend. My job requires crazy hours, and by that I mean I'm frequently up at three am working on a scene, but it is flexible. I don't like long walks on the beach, I'd rather walk to find a perfect spot to make a sand castle, then spend all day making the perfect one. It's a well kept secret, but I don't like fancy dinner places. I'd rather have a burger and fries from Remy's than expensive food with tiny portions any day. I share with those close to me, probably a little too much."

Beckett grinned and then snaked her arms around his neck and pulled so that they rolled over and he was on top of her.

"Sounds like we are a perfect match then."


	77. Doesn't Keep Houdini Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Kitten**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle and Beckett find a kitten at a crime scene. A kitten that takes a strong liking to Beckett.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Wooooow... I feel like there should be cobwebs or something on this story since I haven't updated it in a loooooooong time. Real life, it sucks. And tends to get in the way of fanfiction plans. **

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep Houdini Away.._

"What do we have, Lanie?" Beckett asked as she and Castle walked into an apartment that was marked off with crime scene tape and went straight to where Lanie was kneeling by a woman's body.

"Lily Steep, 34. Orphan, no siblings. Cause of death is pretty clear," The M.E. used her pen to gesture to the area where the woman had obviously been struck in the back of the head with a heavy object. "Blunt force trauma to the back of the head and uh, it's not really my place but it's pretty obvious what happened here."

Beckett just raised her eyebrow and signaled for the M.E. suddenly turned detective to continue. "See that lamp over there? Matches the wound perfectly. I heard Javi talking to the neighbors and they said she and her boyfriend had been fighting recently and had a particularly nasty sounding one last night that ended suddenly. Looks to me like he picked it up, hit her when her back was turned, and hightailed it out of here."

"That's it? Seriously? Laaaaaaaaaaame." Beckett ignored Castle in favor of heading over to Ryan and Esposito to make sure what Lanie said was correct, and after a few minutes, it started to seem like Lanie was right with her deduction of what had happened.

"Are you sure, Lanie? Nothing odd about the body or anything?"

"No strange marks that could have been made by vampires? Ooh, or aliens?" Castle was once again ignored as Lanie turned her attention to Beckett.

"Not a thing out of the ordinary for a case like this. Oh there is one thing though," Lanie reached one hand behind her, and after a small ripping sound, pulled a small black kitten off her back. "This little guy has been attached to me the whole time."

"He seems to like you." Beckett said at the same time that Castle started gushing about how cute it was. "Did he belong to the vic?"

"Seems so, doesn't have a name tag though but there is cat hair on nearly everything in here so I think it's a safe bet to assume he does."

Lanie placed the kitten down on the ground, away from her and the body, and he just looked from her, to Castle, then to Beckett before running over and started climbing up her pants leg like kittens tend to do.

"What the?" He startled her, but she didn't want to hurt him so she stayed still until he climbed up enough so that she could pluck him off her leg and hold him in her arms.

Castle took that as his cue to invade the detective's personal space so he could pet the kitten. "What's going to happen to the little guy?"

"Dunno, the humane society I guess. I've never had a case before where other family members couldn't deal with the animal." At that moment, as if he could understand what she was saying, the kitten turned so he could look up at her with his big wide eyes, as if saying 'please don't send me to the pound'.

"Look at that face, Beckett! How could you even think of taking him there? Obviously he wants to stay with you."

Beckett was just about to protest when Lanie cut in. "Yeah you should keep Houdini. It would do you some good to have a pet."

"Houdini?"

"Yeah that's what I've been calling him. Before you guys got here I kept putting him in that cat carrier so he wouldn't get in the way, but somehow he kept escaping until I finally gave up and let him stay on my back. Word of advice if you do keep him? Clip his nails, they are like needles. Also if you do keep him, you are responsible for him so I'll be needing a new shirt." Lanie turned on her heel and walked away from them, showing off the new rips in the back of her shirt.

Beckett looked down at the cat, who was still giving her that look from before, and Castle really thought she was going to do it, but then she started shaking her head.

"But why not? It's not that hard to take care of a cat. It's not like it's a dog that you have to walk."

"I can't, Castle. I'm never home, I'd feel like I was neglecting him. Plus I'm pretty sure my building doesn't allow pets." She walked over and picked up the cat carrier, intending to put him in there so she could take him to the humane society when he suddenly launched himself out of her arms, right into Castle's arms.

"Come on Castle, put him in there. I don't have all day."

"No."

"No?"

"No. You are not taking this sweet, innocent little kitty to that horrible place. I'll keep him."

"Suit yourself." She turned around and headed out of the crime scene, planning to head back to the precinct to close up this case, secretly happy that he was keeping him and that she wouldn't have to take him to the pound.

* * *

**Before you ask, yes the kitten will be in back in another chapter. Probably the next one, but I'm not sure.**


	78. Doesn't Keep Baseball Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Jim**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor/Family**

**Summary: It's time for the annual twelfth precinct baseball games, and Castle gets to play this year. Only there is a slight problem, he doesn't know how to play baseball.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

_**Ahem... This was inspired by sheer boredom when my internet was out and I started making Miis on the Wii. I made lots of Miis. I'm especially proud of my Mii!Castle, but the rest don't look anything like the real people. So anyway, after making the Miis, my brother and I started playing Baseball on there and it was just hilarious seeing Mii!Beckett win against Mii!Castle and other such things and I eventually came up with this. I need to make a Jim Mii...**_

_**Also for timeline this takes place summer after season 3 but completely ignores what may or may not happen in Knockout. I'm just ignoring that episode right now. It sends me into panic mode thinking about it.**_

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep Baseball Away... _

Richard Castle has a big problem.

For the first time, he was shadowing Detective Beckett through the summer months, and until now, he hadn't realized just how different things were during the summer months.

Lots of things were slightly different, but the biggest change- and source of his 'problem'- was the fact that every Sunday, the twelfth precinct had a baseball game where each division was a team. They would make a tournament style score board where two teams would play against each other each Sunday and then the winner would go on to the next round until finally it was narrowed down to one team.

Castle's problem popped up one day when Ryan and Esposito were talking about how Vice kicked Homicide's butt in the games last year.

"Dude, we have got to get them back this year."

"Yeah but how? They've got more players than us... Or not." Ryan trailed off as a thought occurred to them and both he and Esposito turned slowly to grin at Castle.

They 'asked' if he would be joining their team this year, and of course he had to say yes because for one, they wouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer, and two, because it would have been 'unmanly' if he had chickened out.

There was just one problem, he had no idea how to play baseball.

So now he was stuck with a choice- since obviously he couldn't just show up at the game and attempt to play- he had to get someone to at least teach him the basics. If he could get that down, and maybe work on his hand-eye coordination, he should be fine.

But who to ask? Esposito was obviously out, he'd probably just end up laughing at him and teasing him.

Ryan was a possibility, Castle was sure that Ryan would be a _little_ more discreet with his taunting, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't take long for the news to get back to Esposito.

There were probably plenty of other Homicide workers that could teach him, but he didn't know them that well and therefore couldn't trust them with this little secret.

So that left only one person, and he had no idea if she would even agree to it.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Castle asked a little while later when he got a chance to corner Beckett while she was alone in the break room, refilling her coffee cup.

"Sure. What's up, Castle?" She leaned back against the counter with the coffee machine and he came to stand next to her.

"I need a favor from you...It's about the baseball game."

"If you have something else to do, or just don't want to do it, it's fine. I'll get them to leave you alone about it."

"No, no. I uh..." He started fidgeting next to her until she turned her head slightly to look at him and he finally took a deep breath and just got it over with. "I want to play with you guys, I really, really do. But... I've never actually played baseball before..."

Beckett turned fully towards him with wide eyes. "Never? Not even when you were a kid in school?"

"Nope. Not once."

"Please tell me you've at least taken a bat and gone out to hit a few balls? Or thrown a ball around?"

"Never had anyone to do those things with. Though Alexis and I did toss around a ball once in the loft, but I'm sure you can imagine how that went."

Beckett was in shock, as a kid who had grown up with a baseball loving father, and had been dragged to many games, she just couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that someone had never played baseball before.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Castle seemed just as surprised as her when the words came out of her mouth before she had really thought much about it.

"Alexis and I were going to spend most of the day together, but we haven't figured out what we are going to do. Why?"

"Perfect," There was a slight glint in her eye as she started forming a plan in her head. Beckett pulled out her notebook and pen and started writing something down. "Bring Alexis to this address at one in the afternoon tomorrow. Both of you wear something comfortable that you can move around in, and that you don't mind getting a little dirty. And wear tennis shoes." She handed him the piece of paper with the address written on it and then walked out of the break room, leaving him grinning like an idiot.

Not only was he going to learn how to play baseball so that- hopefully- he won't make a fool of himself in the game, he was going to be spending probably a good part of the day with Beckett on her day off.

* * *

"Are you sure we are heading to the right place, dad?" Alexis asked as the GPS told them to turn down a dirt road on the outskirts of the city, leading to a house in the distance.

"That's the address that Beckett gave me. Well we are already almost there so we might as well go up to the house and see if anyone is home. If it isn't the right place, hopefully they can tell us where we went wrong." Castle turned the steering wheel and headed down the dirt road, wondering why Beckett would have sent them here, instead of a baseball field, if they had the right place.

"Isn't that Detective Beckett's car over there?" Leaning forward to follow where his daughter's finger was pointed, Castle could clearly see Beckett's Crown Vic sitting next to a maroon pick-up truck.

Assuming that's where she wanted him to park, he pulled up next to her car and then they piled out of the car and headed towards the house.

"Oh wow, it's a lot bigger up close!" Alexis said, and he had to agree with her. From the road, the house didn't look like much, but once you got up to it, it was a very nice house. It wasn't overly big, or fancy, but it was still large and homey.

It didn't take long before they had walked up the stone steps leading up to the wrap around porch and rang the doorbell.

"Right on time, Castle, I'm impressed. I just knew you would get lost." Beckett said when she opened the door and let the two of them inside.

"You have so little faith in my navigating skills. I happen to have a state of the art GSP system that has yet to fail me."

"And there is a good reason for that," Beckett rolled her eyes at him then turned to Alexis. "That first day he started shadowing me? He got lost coming back from the bathroom in the precinct. And he wonders why I don't let him drive."

That got Alexis laughing and Castle was just about to reply to that when an older man came out of the kitchen to where they were standing in the living room. Once Beckett noticed him, she immediately introduced them, even though Castle had met the man once before when he had brought some of Johanna's stuff over for them to look at when Raglan was killed.

"Dad, I'm sure you remember Castle," Beckett gestured to Castle before turning to Alexis. "And this is his daughter, Alexis. Guys, this is my dad, Jim Beckett."

Both the Castles shook hands with Jim before he turned to address Castle. "So Katie here tells me you've never played baseball?"

"That's right, sir." Castle tried to ignore Beckett snickering to herself over how intimidated Castle was by her father.

"That's just not right. Well then we've just about got everything set up so let's play ball!" Jim turned on his heel and headed towards the kitchen in a rush, leaving both Castle and Alexis staring after him.

"Sorry, my dad gets a little excited about baseball. Let's go." Beckett headed towards the kitchen at a more normal pace and the two Castles followed her. Once they turned the corner into the kitchen, they could see that Jim had headed out the backdoor and was waiting for them right outside.

Once they met up with him again, the four of them headed towards a cluster of trees in the backyard, quickly finding that a trail lead straight through the trees.

After a good five minutes of walking, they ended up in a huge field where lots of baseball stuff was set up.

"Wow! I was wondering why we weren't going to a baseball field when you gave me the address, but this is so much better."

"Isn't it? I grew up here. Most of my childhood was spent playing in this field."

"Come on! I'm not getting any younger here, you know!" Jim called from the middle of the field with a glove and ball in hand, he had walked over there while the others had stopped on the edge of the field.

"You go with him, Castle. I think he feels the need to right the wrong your father made by not being around to teach you how to play baseball. I'll help Alexis." Castle nodded at Beckett and then jogged excitedly over to where Jim was standing.

"Is something wrong?" Alexis asked when she noticed Beckett looked over at the two men with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong... I just hope dad doesn't go overboard and traumatize him or something."

"I think they will get along just fine. I've played a little, so I know the basics, but maybe you have some tricks you could show me?"

Beckett walked over and picked up one of the extra bats and a ball before turning to grin at the teen. "Of course."

* * *

Thanks to the wonderful teacher- and the fact that he wanted to impress Beckett- it didn't take long for Castle to get the basics down. At first, Jim had been worried that this might be a lost cause since Castle seemed to have no hand-eye coordination whatsoever, but it turned out that he just needed to practice at it. Once he had gotten the basics of pitching and batting down, they decided to play a mini game with the four of them.

Beckett and Alexis totally smoked the guys during the first game, but they got revenge during the rematch game they had insisted on.

Once that game was over they switched so it was Becketts versus Castles. Needless to say,

the Becketts won that round.

After that they decided to take a break and headed back to the house where they relaxed and just chatted for a little while before heading back out.

This time, Jim suggested that since Beckett and Castle would be working together during the Precinct games, that they should get used to working together so it was Jim and Alexis against Castle and Beckett.

They played four games with that set up and the first time Jim and Alexis beat them by a landslide, but as they played each game after that, Castle and Beckett got used to working together and by the fourth game, they had turned the tables on them.

After that game was over, Jim excused himself back to the house for a little bit and when Ashley called Alexis a few minutes after Jim left, Beckett and Castle took turns practicing batting and pitching until Alexis got off the phone and Jim came back.

Jim showed them some tricks for another half hour until their stomachs let them know that it was time to go so that they could get some food.

Castle and Alexis planned to head out once all the baseball stuff was packed away, so that they could grab something to eat in the city but it turns out that Jim had fired up the grill when he had gone back to the house earlier and it was ready to cook when they made it back to the house so they ended up staying for dinner.

Just as the Castles and Beckett, who had to get back to the city because she had to work tomorrow, were about to leave, Jim asked when Beckett's next day off was.

"Thursday I think, why?"

"Well I was thinking you guys need to come back up here and get some practicing in before the first game. There's still a ton of tricks I can teach Rick here."

Beckett turned to see the eager looks on both Castle and Alexis' faces and shrugged. "Thursday it is then."

* * *

Homicide division ended up winning the precinct games, leaving Vice in the dust, thanks to Castle who quickly became their second best player- the first being Beckett.

Beckett was happy that they had won, and that Castle finally learned how to play baseball, but she wasn't exactly happy about the friendship her father and him had struck up. It was nice that they got along and all, but it was getting a little unnerving knowing that Castle was spending so much time with her father. Especially when they ended up scheming together for her birthday.

But even the surprise party they had managed to plan without her knowing had nothing on what her father said to her one day when he was visiting her at her apartment. She had had a long day, so she was sitting at her dinning room table, head held up by one hand while the other was wrapped around her coffee cup sitting on the table.

"You need to marry that man, Katie." Beckett's head slipped from its resting place on her hand and her forehead met the table with a loud thud, followed by a groan. And then repeated the action. Again and again and again.

* * *

**Jim is probably completely and totally out of character but seeing as we have probably only seen him for a few minutes, I'm hoping it doesn't matter too much. Also I went off of the idea that Castle did meet Jim in Knockdown, but since they cut that scene we didn't see it. But I'm going with the idea that it still happened.**


	79. Doesn't Keep Proud Ghosts Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle,Ghost!Johanna**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Family/Humor**

**Summary: Ghost!Johanna is very proud of Castle. Spoilers for Knockout. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**_Knockout completely and totally melted my brain. _**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep Proud Ghosts Away..._

What if he had pushed her away in time? It should have been him that took the bullet, not her. If only he had noticed it the glint a little sooner...

Castle's thoughts were a mess. Everyone was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to hear something about their favorite detective, and Castle just couldn't stop thinking thoughts like that.

_If only I had realized this could have happened, we could have been prepared._

Everyone else could clearly see what he was thinking about, and even though they all- in their own ways- told him it wasn't his fault, or that there was nothing else he could have done, he just couldn't stop thinking like that.

Castle was sitting with his head in his hands as his elbows rested on his legs so thankfully no one saw him flinch as he felt something- or someone- flick his forehead. At first, it was just a soft little touch so he really didn't pay much attention to it until it got harder and harder every time he started thinking those thoughts again.

Finally, when he was sure if it continued any longer he was going to get a bruise, he looked up to see Johanna floating right in front of him.

"Stop thinking like that, there was nothing else you could have done."

Castle subtly glanced around the room, and even though no one was looking at him, he couldn't just start talking to someone no one else could see, so he quickly excused himself, saying he was going to the bathroom.

"Yes there was." He started once he was in the vacant bathroom. "I could have noticed it earlier or reacted faster or-" A ghostly hand slapped itself over his mouth, effectively cutting him off while the owner of the hand gave him an exasperated eye roll.

"Say it with me, 'there was nothing else you could have done'. You aren't super man, you know?" She was trying to tease him, trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working at all.

In fact, it was just making things worse as he started thinking about how now he not only had to face the fact that he had let her father down, he had to face her mother as well.

Seeing the look of anguish on his face, Johanna's motherly instincts kicked in and she swooped down and gave him a hug- as much of a hug a ghost could give anyway.

"She's going to be just fine. Her spirit is strong, she won't give up."

"You don't know that." He countered and she just pulled back to give him a knowing look.

"Yes I do."

"How? Do ghosts have some kind of power to know when people are going to die or not? Would you be able to see her if she did d-die? You can tell if their soul, or whatever, is leaving their body?" He had learned a lot about ghosts since she had started haunting him, and that seemed like a perfectly logical explanation. To him, probably not to anyone else though.

"Nope, I just went into the operating room to check on her, everything is going good and her vitals are strong." She was giving him a look that clearly said 'duh', and he probably would have facepalmed if his forehead wasn't still sore from her flicking earlier.

"Right..."

"Hey Richard?" She said after a few seconds of silence, looking away from him.

"Yeah?"

"You know..." She turned back to him with the happiest- most insane- grin he had ever seen on someone's face. "I'm so proud of you! You finally told her your feelings!" Castle was nearly knocked over as the ghost tackled him in a hug again and he just sort of sputtered, having forgotten for the moment that he had told her that.

Before anything else could be said, Johanna pulled away from him and looked at the wall opposite of him.

"They are done. The doctor is getting ready to come out and talk to everyone so you better get back out there."

Castle quickly rushed out of the bathroom to get back to the waiting room in time to see the doctor, because even though Johanna had just told him she was going to be okay, he needed to hear it from the doctor too.

Shaking her head at the man rushing back to the waiting room, Johanna slowly floated backwards through a few walls to get to where her daughter was lying in the hospital bed, waiting to be transferred to a room.

Beckett looked like she had been through hell, and was fighting against the drugs they had giving her just because she was stubborn and didn't want to give in.

Johanna had just intended to stay for a few minutes, but then Beckett slowly opened her eyes and looked straight at Johanna who was floating next to the bed.

"Mom?" It didn't make any sense, Johanna had been following her around off and on since the day she died and she had never been able to see her before, so why now? Over there years she had done various things to attempt to get her daughter to see her before, but apparently Kate didn't have a single psychic/sensitive to the supernatural bone in her body and didn't respond to any tests. After a few shocked seconds, Johanna remembered a conversation she had had with another ghost a while back at the Ghost Bar who had been telling her how some people could see them if they had enough drugs in their system. She hadn't believed a word he said at the time, but maybe there was some truth to it after all.

"Hey, Katie."

"Mom... What-"

"Shhhhh," If her raspy voice was any indication, Kate really didn't need to be talking right now. "You need to rest, close your eyes, baby girl, and go to sleep."

"You'll leave." She was right, the next time she woke up the drugs will be at least mostly out of her system- other than the pain killers- and she wouldn't be able to see her anymore.

"That's right, but we'll talk soon, I promise."

Even in her drugged state, she didn't know how her mother planned to keep that promise but she just nodded and let her eyes close, falling into a peaceful sleep while Johanna wandered back into the waiting room.

"Oh Castle, dear..."

Castle couldn't stop the shiver that ran through him, Johanna was clearly up to something and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

* * *

**Not particularly thrilled with this one but it's the best I got right now. Hopefully things will get back on track soon so that I can write more.**


	80. Doesn't Keep Johanna From Wanting

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Johanna**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Family/Humor**

**Summary: Johanna pays a little visit to her daughter while she is asleep after being shot and has somethings to say to her.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Not really Ghost!Johanna (though it technically could be but that's not how I envisioned it) but more of just Johanna coming to pay her a visit while she is drugged up after being shot.**

**Also I wrote this while waiting at the lawyer's office with my mom, then after I finished there was still no sign of leaving anytime soon so I ended up writing two versions of this idea. **

**I couldn't decide which one to post, so I put up both.**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep Johanna From Wanting Grandchildren..._

"Where am I?" Kate muttered to herself as she looked around the plain white room she was standing in.

"You're asleep, well a drug induced sleep right now. You were shot, do you remember that?" Suddenly Johanna Beckett was standing in front of Beckett in the white room.

"Umm... Yeah..." She replied so lightly that normally anyone else would have had a hard time hearing it, but not Johanna. She smiled brightly at her daughter then disappeared, only to reappear behind Beckett, giving her a smack upside the head.

"Did I raise a blind child? Hmmm? Why can't you see how good that man is for you?"

Beckett was understandably confused due to the fact her long dead mother was standing in front of her so she thought maybe she was talking about how she had broken up with Josh a while back.

"Who? Josh?"

That earned her another smack upside the head. "You goob! No, Castle! How is it that even the dead can see it, but you can't? The man is completely in love with you."

She couldn't help it, her mind flashed back to when she was lying on the grass with Castle over her. Of course that didn't escape Johanna. "See? There's your proof."

"I-"

"Nope, hush. Now you are going to be waking up soon so I gotta make this quick, so you better listen closely." Beckett leaned forward to show that she was paying attention, and Johanna took a deep breath.

"Go make little Castle babies! I want grandchildren!" Johanna shouted, starling Beckett into waking up and rising off the bed before the searing pain in her chest made her quickly lay back down in her hospital bed.

"Hey there." Castle said from the right side of the bed where he was sitting in a chair, holding on to her hand.

Beckett opened her mouth to reply but then thoughts of what he told her at the cemetery and what her mother had just told her kept replaying in her mind and the only then she could do was just sit there and blush.

* * *

Version 2:

"Where am I?" Kate muttered to herself as she looked around the plain white room she was standing in.

"You're asleep, well a drug induced sleep right now. You were shot, do you remember that?" Suddenly Johanna Beckett was standing in front of Beckett in the white room.

"Umm... Yeah..." She replied so lightly that normally anyone else would have had a hard time hearing it, but not Johanna. She smiled brightly at her daughter then disappeared, only to reappear behind Beckett, giving her a smack upside the head.

"I want grandchildren! For the love of god, why haven't you jumped that man yet!"

"Uh..."

"Don't you give me that! I've been watching you for a long time. Now, we don't have much time so I want you to promise me something, 'kay?"

Beckett could only nod. "Good, I want you to promise me that as soon as you are physically able, you will jump that man's bones and make me some little Castle grandbabies."

"I-"

"Promise me."

"...Okay." If the bulletwound didn't kill her, she was pretty sure she was going to die of embarrassment.

"I don't believe you." Johanna said in a sing-song voice.

"Fine. I promise I will jump Castle as soon as I can. Happy now?"

"Very."


	81. Doesn't Keep Lost Phones Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie/Esposito, Ryan**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "_Giving you fair warning, Esposito found your phone under my bed."_**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Well would you look at that... I actually updated. Wow it's been how long now? Anyway... Good news is is that I'm finally moved! So hopefully I'll be able to write more soon.**

**(Side Note: HI MOGIE. See? See? I did write something!)**

**(Side Side Note: Fix your phone Mogie.)**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep Lost Phones Away..._

"Come on, man. Where are you hiding all the good stuff? A game this great needs a great drink to go with it. Not this stuff." Esposito complained from the couch, taking a drink from his beer anyway.

Castle paused in the video game he was beating Ryan at long enough to glance up the stairs, then towards the front door to make sure Martha wasn't going to suddenly appear. "Fine, I was hiding it all from mother. It's under my bed. Help yourself."

"Sweet." Esposito got up from the couch and journeyed into the bedroom while Castle focused on beating Ryan, not giving a second thought about what the detective might find in there.

"Uh, bro?" Came Esposito's voice a minute later.

"Yeah?" Castle halfway turned his head towards Esposito, but kept his attention on his game.

"Something you wanna tell us?"

"Huh?" Finally he looked away from the game to see Esposito holding up a cell phone in his hand.

A very familiar cell phone.

A cell phone that belonged to a certain female detective.

A cell phone that she had lost weeks ago.

"Uh..."

* * *

Beckett jumped slightly when she heard the message tone on her temporary replacement phone go off, still not used to the loud and different sound.

Lanie, who was sitting across the table from her at the little cafe they were having lunch at, was too busy telling her an embarrassing story about Esposito to notice Beckett's phone going off so Beckett just quickly pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the message.

"_Giving you fair warning, Esposito found your phone under my bed."_

"Hey Lanie," Beckett cut in after she had read the message. "I'll be right back, okay? Gotta run to the little girl's room."

Lanie thought that was a little odd, but didn't think too much of it when Beckett hurried away in the direction of the restrooms.

Until she got a text from her boyfriend.

"_Just found something interesting under Castle's bed. Beckett's phone wasn't so lost after all. Castle refuses to spill the beans. It's up to you now, Chica."_

It only took her a few seconds to reply, an evil grin spreading across her face.

"_Don't you worry your pretty little head. I'll get all the details out of her, you just wait and see. It's about damn time."_

Once the text was sent, Lanie sat back in her chair and waited for Beckett to get back from the bathroom.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited, until something occurred to her.

"She didn't..." Lanie stood up quickly and rushed to the back where the bathrooms were, quickly throwing open the door to the women's room and revealing that Beckett had indeed skipped out on her.

"Oh, she did!"

* * *

"You do realize that whatever torture she is planning to inflicted upon you now is going to be a lot worst than if you had just stayed and dealt with it then, right?" Castle said as he opened the door and looked down at the detective.

"Not if she never finds me." Beckett said, then quickly shut the closet door, locking herself inside of Castle's closet where she was sure Lanie wouldn't find her.

* * *

**This was a lot funnier in my head... Oh well. It's been a while since I've written so I gotta get back in the groove.**


	82. Keeps Beckett From Losing The Game

**Characters: Beckett/Castle**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: Romance/Humor**

**Summary: "We aren't actually fighting here so no punching or kicking. The goal is to get the other down by force, not injure them. Sound good?" "Yup." Beckett stood up from the couch and then without warning, tackled him.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

_**Ahem... I literally woke up this morning with this in my head. I do not know where in the world it came from but it wouldn't leave me alone until I got up out of bed a lot earlier than normal and wrote it.**_

* * *

_One A Day Keeps Beckett From Losing The Game..._

_(Takes place in a timeline where the Captain was killed but Beckett wasn't shot.)_

Beckett couldn't exactly remember how he had managed to talk her into coming over and having dinner with him and his family, but he had and now the two of them were sitting on the couch, trying to find something decent to watch on TV but not having any luck.

"You have over a thousand channels and there is still nothing on." She commented and he threw himself back against the couch with a groan, letting the remote fall from his hands and leaving the TV on whatever channel it had landed on.

"I know. I don't even know why I pay for this many..." Castle trailed off as he tried to think of something to talk about. "I can't believe the new captain is making us clean out the storage room tomorrow."

"Yeah well, that's what happens _someone _starts talking bad about her without checking to see if she was around or not." Beckett glared pointedly at him and he turned his attention back to the TV to see that it had landed on a channel with a wrestling match playing, an idea forming in his mind.

"Hey, Beckett? You up for a little game?"

"What kind of game?" There was no way he could have missed the suspicious tone in her voice.

Castle pointed at the TV. "Just a little wrestling game. The person who can hold the other down for a normal count of ten wins. Loser has to do the dishes from dinner and clean the storage room by his or her self tomorrow."

Now normally he wouldn't have even dared suggesting something like this, since she would without a doubt kick his butt and win easily, but what she didn't know was that he had been going through training- torture- with Esposito and Ryan. While he was sure that if it came down to a knock down drag out fight, she would still win but he was hoping that he could take her by surprise and keep her down long enough to win.

Beckett turned her head off to the side pretending to think it over, but in reality she was hiding a smirk. She knew very well that he had been training with the boys, and this would be a perfect opportunity to see how well he was doing.

"Alright. Rules?"

He tried to keep a straight face, but an excited grin still spread across his face. "Just common sense rules. We aren't actually fighting here so no punching or kicking. The goal is to get the other down by force, not injure them. Sound good?"

"Yup." Beckett stood up from the couch and then without warning, tackled him.

He had not been expecting that at all, but apparently Esposito and Ryan were excellent teachers because the instincts they had been drilling into his brain kicked in and he fell to the ground on his back right before she made contact with him and used his feet, and her momentum, to propel her over his head where she landed safely sprawled out on the chair that was behind him.

Mildly impressed, she swatted a piece of hair out of her face and started towards the grinning man.

Thinking that she was going to come straight at him again, he shifted his stance so he could flip her again, but she realized what he was doing and darted to the left right before she got to him and jumped over the couch.

He turned around, thinking that she would try to get him from behind, but she came out the other direction and caught him off guard, sweeping his feet out from under him and jumping on him.

But before she could get a good hold on him to keep him down, he rolled away from her and sprung to his feet again and this time came after her.

Beckett moved so that she could flip him over once he got close to her but he saw her intentions and quickly shifted just like Esposito had taught him so that when she tried to flip him, he didn't go flying, instead it only brought him closer to her so that her back was pressed against his chest.

He didn't even get a chance to enjoy the moment before she roughly pushed him backwards, almost making him trip over the coffee table. Before he could even get his balance back, she was tackling him from the side, sending him to the floor with her on top of him but he rolled so that he was on top.

And then she rolled them again so she was on top. And then he rolled them again.

Over and over they kept fighting for the top until they finally hit his desk and realized they had rolled themselves right into his office.

When they had hit the desk they broke apart and both stood up, facing each other for a moment before Castle went after her again, this time trying to grab one of her arms.

Not knowing what he was trying to do, but knowing whatever it was it probably wouldn't be good for her, she kept backing away from him and dodging him until he got this ridiculously victorious grin on his face and pushed her roughly backwards.

Beckett braced herself so that she wouldn't fall, but she didn't count on the back of her knees hitting the edge of his bed, causing her to fall backwards on the bed with a thud.

Before she could even realize what had happened, Castle jumped and landed on top of her, pinning her down with his knees on either side of her thighs and one hand holding both her hands above her head while the other hand kept a firm pressure on her stomach.

He started counting. "1. 2." There was no way she was losing this.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

As soon as he opened his mouth to say "3", Beckett leaned up, making sure to press her chest against him as she captured his mouth with her own.

Castle was so shocked at the feel of her lips on his that his grip on her immediately loosened and she took advantage of that, breaking the kiss and quickly flipping them over so that she was on top.

"B-But... You just...Cruel woman. Very, very cruel woman." Castle managed to say after she started her own countdown and he realized what she had done.

"Sorry _Ricky,_ 3, I don't want to, 4, clean the storage, 5, room by myself. 6."

"Well neither do I." He started moving around, trying to throw her off and Beckett realized that in this position, he could easily do that if she didn't do something quick.

She flattened herself against him and pressed her lips to his again, smirking against them as he immediately stopped trying to throw her off.

This time, instead of being too shocked to do anything, Castle actively participated in this kiss, almost making her forget why she was doing this in the first place.

Almost.

After she silently reached ten, she pulled away from him and grinned down at him. "You lose. Now, if you need me I'll be upstairs helping Alexis with her homework like a promised earlier. Have fun with the dishes."

Beckett quickly climbed off of him and calmly walked out of his bedroom and once she got out of the office and knew she was completely out of his sight, she took off running up the stairs, a deep blush on her face as what she did finally hit her.


	83. Doesn't Keep The Adorableness Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Caskett Kid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Romance/Humor**

**Summary: Keeping quiet, he crept over to the couch and peered over the back of it to see what Kate was up to.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Mogie made me do it! It's all her fault. **

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The Adorableness Away..._

"Yeah, yeah I know, Paula. I was paying attention... Sort of... Uh huh... Yes, Paula... Yup...I got it...Okay, I'm home now so you can bother me with the details tomorrow." Castle listened as his agent shrieked something at him through the phone, but he just told her good bye and hung up the phone. He had spent all day with the woman, while attending various meetings for his books, and he was tired of listening to her.

Castle quickly unlocked the door to his loft and was just about to call out to his wife of nearly four years when he noticed locks of luscious hair spilling over the arm of the couch. Keeping quiet, he crept over to the couch and peered over the back of it to see what Kate was up to.

What he saw made his heart ache from the sheer adorableness of the sight.

Kate was laying on her back with her legs curled up so that her knees touched the back of the couch. One arm was acting as a pillow for her head while her other arm was curled protectively around their two year old daughter, Ella, her hand resting on the young girl's already long and wavy hair.

Castle had to physically put his fist to his mouth so that he wouldn't squeal about how adorable they were and wake them up. Not wanting to ever forget this sight, he pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture of the two. As the pictured was being saved to his phone, he had the thought that this was too cute to keep to himself so within seconds, the picture was being sent out to all his twitter fans with the caption, "I ship myself and the middle of this Katella sandwhich."

It was cheesy, and Kate would probably kill him when she found out, but it was so worth it. Something this adorable just _had _to be shared with the world.


	84. Is Good For The Immune System

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie**

**Rating: T (For some cussing)**

**Genre: Romance/Humor**

**Summary: Castle and Beckett are having a fight over something and neither are willing to back down, but Beckett has a very simple solution.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Inspired by a certain line in FLO.**

* * *

_One A Day Is Good For The Immune System..._

"Whoa, girl! You look like hell!" Was the greeting Beckett got when she pushed open the double doors leading into the morgue.

"Thanks a lot, Lanie." It was true though, she hadn't slept well in days and it showed. The only thing that was keeping her going was that blessed espresso machine.

"Well it's true. Oh honey, this isn't because of your fight with Writer Boy, is it?" Lanie took of her gloves and walked over to the detective, opening her arms to hug her but Beckett stepped back, shaking her head.

"No, it's just a cold. I'll be fine, I just came to pick up the report from the Nelson case since you seem to keep forgetting it." Lanie didn't believe her for one second, but she'd go along with it for now.

"Here," she said a few minutes later after finally finding the file. "that should be all you need. Hey, Kate?"

Beckett had started walking towards the door as soon as the file was in her hand, but stopped when Lanie called out to her. "Yeah?"

"You've been getting a lot of colds lately, maybe you need to boost your immune system. Sex is good for that. You and Writer Boy should get on that."

"Ugh!"

* * *

Hours later found Beckett hesitantly knocking on the door to Castle's loft.

"Kate!" Castle exclaimed in surprise when he opened the door and saw his favorite detective standing there.

"Hey...Can I come in?"

"Of course." He moved away from the door and gestured for her to come in. As she walked in, she noticed how quiet it was.

"Is Alexis not here?"

"Nope, she was at a study group at Paige's but it ended up turning into a sleepover. And before you ask, I have no idea where Mother is or when she will be back but I doubt it will be anytime soon so we have plenty time to talk in private."

"What makes you think I came here to talk about it?" She snapped at him and he quickly tried to backtrack.

"I-Uh-Um-I-I just thought that-" Instead of listening to him ramble on, she held a hand up and stopped him.

"Hush," They had made their way over to the couch so she flopped down on it. "it's okay. I did come over here to talk."

Even though she said that, neither knew how exactly to start this 'talk', so they both stayed silent until they both decided to talk at the same time.

"I shouldn't have done that and I should have listened to you, but I'm still right.""I shouldn't have overreacted like that and I should have listened to you, but you know that I'm right."

When they realized what they had done, Castle sighed. "You aren't going to back down from this, are you?"

"Not a chance. I don't suppose you are going to give in and say I'm right anytime soon?"

"Nope...God Kate, what are we going to do? I don't like fighting with you like this."

Becket looked up at him with her bottom lip firmly between her teeth. "Well...We could always just fuck it out."

As soon as Castle picked his jaw up off the floor, he scooped her up and whisked her away to the bedroom before she could change her mind and they weren't seen again until the next morning.

* * *

**Congrats if you caught the small Rizzoli & Isles reference. XD**

**(Side Note: I've been working on something related to fanfic but not related to One A Day and it is sooooooo over due.)**

**(Side Side Note: I'm actually working on two things. Can you guess them?)**


	85. Doesn't Keep The LLBFF's Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Jane/Maura**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Romance/Humor**

**Summary: Castle meets Beckett's cousin, Jane, and her LLBFF.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Let's thank the wonderful MorgieSan for this one! I kinda poked her with the idea and she wrote it then said I could post it here so here you go.**

**Yup, more Rizzoli and Isles.**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The LLBFF's Away..._

"Wait, your cousin is a lesbian?"

She sighed, "Yes Castle. Janie likes girls."

"I don't think I know any lesbians."

"You do, Claire down in processing. Mia at Remy's. Nina in Robbery."

"Nina? Really?"

"Yes. Are you done flipping out? They'll be here soon, and I'd rather you not act like a total moron in front of them."

"Those are plural pronouns."

"You should be a writer with that fantastic grip on English." Kate rolled her eyes and pulled a stack of dishes out of her cabinet. "Janie and Maura, they're LLBFFs."

"I'm normally good with acronyms, but I'm stumped," he responded, taking the stack of plates from her and going over to the table to set it.

"Life long best friends forever."

"Did you just say breast friends?"

Kate groaned and pulled a fist full of silverware out. "Just get it all out of your system now, because I swear to God I will send you away if you embarrass me in front of the only member of my extended family who still speaks to me."

"No, no, I'll be good. I promise," he swore, taking the silverware from her to finish setting the table. They worked around each other effortlessly to finish getting table and dinner ready.

"You're not asking very loudly again, what is it?"

"You said she's the only one who still talks to you, why?"

"She's a cop. Boston Homicide. I'll chat with Frankie Jr. sometimes, but Janie is really the only who makes an effort to keep in touch. Aunt Angela stopped coming around after Mom died, I think it hurt her too much. So Janie and I would do the phone calls and updates thing. Now we try to get together a few times a year."

"A cop... Why am I not surprised?" he teased, bumping her hip as he came to stand next to her at the sink. "Hero worship?"

"As if," she snorted, rinsing the dishes off and passing them one by one to Castle to be put in the dishwasher. "I don't know why Janie did it. I think it was just a natural evolution for her. She was always helping people as a kid. If you ever lost anything she could find it for you before you could say Jane Rizzoli."

He loaded the dishwasher as he listened. "I know that name... why do I know that name... Oh! Oh, oh, that medical school dropout serial killer was fixated on her, what was his name... Hoyt?"

"Yep. She's got some nasty scars to prove it, but don't bring that up. Please?"

"I won't. I promise. I remember reading about it though, I was trying to develop a case for a Nikki Heat novel and thought it was just a little too creepy for me. Now I know why." He added in some dishwashing detergent and closed the machine. "Nothing else going in right?"

"Not until later," she answered drying her hands off on a tea towel.

"Alrighty then." He locked the door and pressed the start button. "What do you want to do until they get here?"

"I'm not having sex with you to pass the time. Accept that fact right now."

"Just a quicky!"

"No. When is the last time we _ever _managed to have a quick quicky? Oh right, never."

"Spoil-sport," he grumbled, sneaking a glance into the oven to check dinner.

"Poor you, having to go an extra three hours without getting laid. Whatever will you do?" She turned away from him and opened her fridge to pull out a bottle of water.

"This," he replied, circling his arms around her waist from behind and lifting.

She squealed and fought against him. "Put me down, you big oaf!"

"As you wish." He carried her towards the couch intent on chucking her onto the soft cushions, consequences be damned, but he was detoured by whoever was knocking at the door. Rick changed directions and carted his protesting detective toward the door, managing to dodge each and every one of her blows.

"Put me down!" she hissed, trying to find someplace on his body to pinch.

"Nope," he answered, grinning at her and swinging her out sideays so he could grip her with one arm and answer her door with the other. "Hello, you must be Jane and Maura, come on in!"

"Are we interrupting something?"

"I think we're interrupting their mating dance. Perhaps we should go back to the hotel?"

"You interrupted my plans to kill him. Thanks for saving his life Janie," Kate groused, struggling once more to get out of his grip.

"Blah, blah, blah. I'm not hearing any kind of introductions over here, Kate. I'm Jane," she introduced, grabbing his hand and shaking it. "This is Maura, my walking Google in Louboutins."

"Rick, nice to meet you ladies. Won't you come in?" He stepped aside and waved them in.

"She must really like you, the Katherine Beckett I know and love would've laid anyone else out on their ass by now," Jane commented, taking off her coat and hanging it on the hook.

"It's a mutual feeling, the liking thing. Dinner should be ready soon." By now Kate had stopped struggling and was just hanging there pouting while her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend made nicey-nice with her cousin. "She made a vegetarian lasagna, a real one. Which means she is a better person than I am, I only buy them frozen."

"Really Castle, are you insulting my Italian half? You know I can cook, and well," she retorted, nailing him with her elbow.

"God woman! Okay, I'll put you down. I think you broke a rib." He set her on her feet with a grunt and rubbed at the spot on his chest where her elbow connected.

"I brought wine," Maura offered, holding up the bottle. She let her attention fall between each of the three other people in the room before settling on Kate. "Obviously you can't have any since you're pregnant."

"Maura! What have I told you about diagnosing people?" Jane admonished, shaking her head at Maura's people skills.

"You know, Kate, I really like your cousin and her girlfriend."

Kate groaned and went over to grab the garlic bread she'd made earlier to throw under the broiler in her oven, already regretting letting Castle meet her cousin.

* * *

**So if you are wondering, I do have some things in the works. I just haven't had the time and motivation to work on them yet.**

**I'm working on a new chapter for DFAS, I've also gone back and edited all the chapters because wow there were a lot of mistakes.**

**I've gone through and edited Ohana Vacation for mistakes as well as deleting the fourth chapter because it was short and I kinda blocked myself in with the way that chapter was heading so it's gone and now Ohana has at least somewhat of a plot in the works.**

**There's also plenty of chapters I have planned for One A Day (that either Mogie and I have come up with, plus some that were requested.)**


	86. Doesn't Keep The Denim Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexander**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "Denim. Shaun White hoodies and denim."**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**This song. It was driving me nuts. So I had to do something with it.**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The Denim Away..._

"Beeeeeeeeeeckett!" Castle whined, dragging out the first vowel in her name in an annoying way, "Please can I turn on the radio? I've got a song stuck in my head and it's driving me crazy. I need something else to distract me."

"Not a chance. Not until you learn how to keep yourself from changing the station every five seconds." Beckett reached over and quickly slapped Castle's hand away from the dial without even taking her eyes off the road.

"But-"

"No."

"Fiiiine," he said with a dramatic sigh and settled back into his seat to pout.

Beckett let out a sigh of her own-though it was much less dramatic than his- as silence filled the car, but of course it didn't last long.

"Denim... graphic tees, leggings, and tunics. More denim, backpacks, headphones, hair gel. Denim-"

"Castle! What the hell?" she cut him off and turned her head to look at him with wide, incredulous, eyes thinking that he had suddenly gone insane.

"What? Oh come on, you can't tell me that you haven't seen that Target commercial? With the singing music teacher? The one that goes like Denim-" Beckett cut him off again right as he started singing.

"Yes I've seen it. I'm just wondering why the hell you are singing it in my car."

"Because you wouldn't let me turn on the radio and it's been stuck in my head for _days_."

"Whatever. We'll be back in the city soon so just keep it in your head and once you are alone in your loft you can sing it to your heart's content. But until then, keep your mouth shut."

Castle mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key while Beckett took a deep breath and focused on not getting them killed in the crazy New York traffic.

Ten minutes later...

"Castle for the love of god, if you do not stop _humming_ that damn song I'm going to bash you over the head with a cast iron pot, tie you to a chair and spend every single moment of the next few days gleefully tickle torturing you with feathers until you are begging for mercy and then when you finally pass out from the torture, I am going to chop you in tiny, tiny pieces and feed you to Alexander so he will spit the pieces of you out in so many different places that no one could ever _hope_ to put you back together again."

Beckett took a deep breath after that and Castle just stared at her in amazement, trying to figure out how she managed to say that all in one breath.

"You... You've been thinking about that for a while haven't you?"

His only answer was a glare that sent chills down his spine and he decided that he better not try and see if she would follow through on that or not.

* * *

"-Denim, Converse Onestar shoes... Denim. Shaun White hoodies and denim." Beckett froze with her hand halfway to her hair with a glob of conditioner in it as she realized what she had been singing in the shower for the past ten minutes. She finished her shower without any more singing, but by the time she walked out of her bathroom, she was singing it again and vowing to get revenge on Castle and whoever had come up with that song in the first place.

* * *

As soon as Castle walked into the precinct, Ryan and Esposito immediately noticed his new clothes.

"Really, dude? Shaun White hoodies and Converse Onestar shoes? Seriously?"

"I don't know what look you are going for there, Castle, but it's not working for you."

"Just..." he trailed off, self consciously playing with the hem of his hoodie, "shut up, my closet was being...uncooperative this morning."

"Uh huh." and "Sure, sure." were the replies he got, and he was sure they had more to say but the conversation the Captain was having with Beckett, who had just walked in, caught their attention.

"Beckett? Do we need to have a talk about appropriate attire for work?" Roy looked at his best detective with a raised eyebrow at the leggings and tunic she was wearing.

"No sir, my closet uh...My closet wasn't being very cooperative," she finally got out, looking down at her Converse clad feet.

"Your closet was being uncooperative? You say that like it has a mind of it's own, ha! Good one, Beckett. Now, do you wanna tell me why you are really dressed like that?"

"Uh... It's laundry day?" she tried and then caught a glimpse of Castle out of the corner of her eye and sent a glare towards him, feeling only slightly better when she noticed how he was dressed.

He was still going to pay dearly for this.

* * *

**I'll just be over here... Driving myself nuts with that song because it. Will. Not. Get. Out. Of. My. Head.**

**CURSE YOU TARGET AND YOUR CATCHY COMMERCIAL SONGS.**


	87. Doesn't Keep The Smoosh Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Alexander**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "She's so smooshy." "That's not a word." "Shush. We're having a moment."**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So I've been really busy take tests and stuff so I can hopefully start a college program in January and have been waaaaay stressed out and way too busy.**

**So Mogie decided to write you guys a chapter.**

**(Note from Mogie: So there was this thing on Tumblr. I just had to write about it.)**

* * *

_One A Day Doesn't Keep The Smoosh Away..._

"Kate, promise you won't be mad."

Kate looked up from her spot on the couch, immediately suspicious. "What did you do, Rick?"

"At least promise not to kill me?" he pleaded, edging closer to her.

"Rick..." she warned, getting up and advancing on him.

"Promise."

Kate placed her hands on her hips and continued to glare at him. Really, who trusts a man whose opening line is , "Don't be mad." She continued to stare him down. "What did you do?"

"Something stupid, I think." He tried out his most charming smile, but it wasn't working.

"That is so not helpful, Rick."

"Good stupid?"

"Rick. You have thirty seconds to tell me what you did before I twist your ear off and make you."

"Okay, okay," he sighed, and turned back towards the door.

"No way, Rick, you don't get to run out on me now."

"I'm not running. I'm just hoping showing you makes you want to kill me less than telling you," he answered squatting down to the bag under his coat and unzipping the flap.

"Rick..."

Castle stepped aside and looked at her hopefully.

"Oh my..." She clamped a hand over her mouth as the cutest puppy she had ever seen waddled out of the carrier. The fawn and white American bulldog pup looked expectantly between the two adults before tottering toward Kate, not quite mastering the fine art of walking on hardwood.

"Are you mad?"

"It's a puppy."

"I know, are you mad?"

"It's so cute."

"Yes, but are you mad?"

Kate kneeled down in front of the puppy and held out a hand for him to sniff. "Hi there, cutie."

The puppy gave her an experimental taste before hopping halfway into her lap. Kate grinned and ran her hand over the little fat rolls, stopping at the curly q tail. "Why?" she asked, scooping the puppy up.

"I'm a sucker for a pretty face."

She shifted into a sitting position, and snuggled the puppy closer. "I don't believe you. This place would be full of animals if that were true."

"I was talking about you, Kate," he said, sitting down next to her. "I'm a sucker for your pretty face. She was a risky move though. I didn't know where you stood on pets, but she was just so adorable... I was hoping she'd make you smile."

"I smiled."

"Yep. Paid off," he replied as he tugged her closer to him and wound his arm around her shoulders, giving the curious puppy a finger to chew on.

"What's her name?" She dropped her head down to rest on his shoulder.

"I've been calling her Lily, but we can change it if you want to."

"Lilies are my favorite," she offered up needlessly.

"I know."

"You got us a dog."

"I told you I did something stupid,' he answered, grinning into her hair as he twirled the fingers of his free hand through the strands that had fallen out of her messy bun.

Kate scratched behind Lily's ears and sighed contentedly. "She's so smooshy."

"That's not a word."

"Shush. We're having a moment," she teased, lightly elbowing him in the side. He chuckled and she continued to pet the happy little puppy curled up in her arms.

"She likes you."

"She's sweet. God, Rick, you got us a puppy. What are we going to do with a puppy?"

"I have no idea."

She laughed and rolled the puppy over in her arms, intent on rubbing it's belly. She stopped cold when she saw the rather unorthodox collar embellishment. "What the hell..."

"The other stupid thing I did," he said, untangling his fingers so he could unlatch the puppy's collar. With a precision that you can really only find in someone who diffuses bombs for a living, or has changed a lot of dirty diapers, he pulled the collar off without losing the decoration. "That's for you too."

"Yes," she blurted out.

"Geez, woman, always gotta steal my thunder don't you?" He pulled the ring off the skinny pink collar and slid it onto her hand. "No take backs."

"Never," she grinned, turning in his one-armed embrace to kiss him soundly.

Lily, missing all the attention, let out a tiny, and squeaky, bark of disapproval.

"Just so we're clear, you're marrying me?"

"I'm marrying you, yes." She held her hand up to admire the ring and Lily let out another sound of protest. "It's perfect." The ring was simple. A smooth platinum band with an Old European cut diamond on top, a little over half a carat she thought, held in place by four prongs and a fleur de-lis embellished base. Flanking those on either side were five much, much smaller diamonds set into the millegrained shoulders. Not something she'd ever expect from him.

"Glad you like it. Do you know how hard it was for me to convince the jeweler that I wasn't interested in anything over a carat? He's so not used to that kind of request from me."

Kate grinned and then plopped Lily down in his lap. "Go walk our dog. I have to call Lanie and my Dad. She'll kill both of us if she finds out we didn't tell her right away." She left a smacking kiss on his check and got back up to grab her phone off the coffee table.

"That's it? I get a peck on the cheek for the cute dog and the engagement ring?"

"Go walk the dog. We'll get to the sex after I secure the safety of our lives."


	88. Still Doesn't Keep The Smoosh Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lily**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Alexis meets the newest member of the family. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Well, you guys talked Mogie into making part two so here you go.**

**(And for those of you who might be starting to wonder, yes I am going to actually write something soon. I promise.)**

* * *

_One A Day Still Doesn't Keep The Smoosh Away..._

"Dad! Are you home?" Alexis called out as she stepped into the loft, ready to relax after having spent the better part of her day on an airplane. "Dad? Hello?"

The only response, from the otherwise silent apartment, was a muffled bark. "Well that is not normal," Alexis mused as she ventured toward the sound. She traced the sound over to her father's office and knocked on the door. All she recieved was another bark. She covered her eyes and cracked the door open. "I'm coming in!"

She shrieked when Lily squeezed between her leg and the doorframe, seeking freedom in the rest of the loft. Whirling around she tried to find the furry thing that had touched her. Lily chose that moment to scamper back around the side of the kitchen island, and slide to a stop several feet away from Alexis.

"Oh my gosh..." Alexis trailed off. Lily barked indignantly and took off in the other direction, slip-sliding acorss the hardwood and narrowly avoiding bouncing off the table and chairs and staircase as she tried to make her escape.

"Oh, no. Come back!" Alexis dove towards the front door, and got it shut just in time. "No escaping for you."

Lily darted between her legs and doubled back into the living room on Alexis. She shot under the couch and snuggled up into the wall before Alexis could even get her bearings.

"What the... Puppy?" Alexis dropped to her hands and knees and began a thorough search of the first floor of the loft. She whistled and called for the puppy, and was about to give up when she caught sight of the chubby little puppy snoozing on her back under the couch.

"Oh, puppy..." Alexis sighed and stretched out on her stomach in front of the couch. "What _are _you doing under there?" She gingerly extended her hand out to the puppy and tickled her tummy. Lily kicked at the bottom of the couch lightly and made a squeaky sound, but didn't wake up. She folded up her free arm and rested her chin on the back of her palm.

Kate yawned as she stepped into the office. "I thought that door was closed... Great, she's probably made a huge mess." She scrubbed at her eyes and made a half-assed attempt at taming her hair before pulling it all back into a highly messy bun. Stumbling out into the loft, because she really was still half comatose, she never even noticed Alexis as she made her way to the kitchen. She fiddled with the top button of the shirt she had "borrowed" from her fiancee as she perused her options.

"Kate?"

Kate spun around to face Alexis, with wide eyes. Well aware of what she was, or rather was not wearing she pulled the shirt tighter around her body. "Alexis!" she finally managed. "I... totally wasn't expecting to see you here."

Ignoring the flustered state of the normally put together woman she pointed toward the other room. "Tiny adorable creature. It won't come out from under the couch."

"Lily really doesn't like strangers," Kate sighed and headed toward the living room. With as much modesty as the shirt could provide her, she got down on the floor and called for the dog. "Lily, come on out." She clicked her tongue and patted the floor by her legs.

After a bit of rustling, Lily poked her little smashed nose out from under the couch. "You should've seen her at the vet yesterday. By the time he actually got in there she was so far back in her carrier you couldn't see her for the blankets. She'd burrowed down under them. Lanie calls her the baby duck."

"You and Dad got a dog?" Alexis asked quietly.

"Not exactly." Kate proceeded to tell Alexis all that had happened in the last three days. "If I had known for one second that he hadn't told you yet I would've called you myself. I swear."

Alexis digested all the information and stayed silent for quite a few minutes afterwards. "I don't know what to freak out over more, the ring or the dog. It's like a dry run for when you guys have kids. I think I'm gonna freak out over Lily."

"She is kind of adorable, yeah?" Kate pulled the puppy out from under the couch and picked her up. "Smooshy little thing."

"She won't bite me, will she?"

"No, well, she might chew on you. Your dad started that nasty little habit, but she won't bite you," Kate explained as she placed the puppy in Alexis's lap. "I'm gonna go get dressed."

"Yeah, thanks. I really didn't want to have to say anything."

"We can both repress how awkward this part is, okay?" Kate laughed lightly as she got up the floor and headed back towards the bedroom.

"Hey, Kate?"

"Yeah?" She turned back to Alexis and waited.

"Congratulations," she replied, giving her a broad smile and assuaging the last of Kate's fears.


	89. Keeps The Two Week Wait Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie**

**Rating: T+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: After finding out that Castle and Beckett finally slept together, Lanie gets slightly obsessed with checking Beckett for early pregnancy symptoms. Part 1.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Oh look, I actually wrote something!**

**WARNING: This chapter mentions "boinking" and other things that go along with it. The next chapter will go sort of in detail about some female stuff so... Just a warning. Lanie is being what Mogie and I affectionately call a"creeper" when it comes to Beckett and knowing things about her that she really shouldn't.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Two Week Wait Away...

She couldn't help it, she had to tell someone. So when Kate Beckett found herself alone in the morgue with a certain M.E., it just came tumbling out.

"I had sex with Castle last night."

"That's great, honey, but I'm a little busy right-" The mechanical saw Lanie was holding slipped through her fingers and nearly decapitated the innocent corpse lying on her table as what Beckett said sunk in.

"Seriously? Girl you better not be yanking my chain here because I swear I'll-" With a roll of her eyes, Beckett held up her hand and 'shushed' her friend.

"It really happened, okay?"

"Were you drunkles?"

"Is that even a word?"

"Katherine Beckett. Were you or were you not drunk when you boinked Richard Castle." With her hands on her hips, her right foot tapping impatiently, and her eyes staring into Beckett's soul, Lanie was going to get answers.

"Uh," not really wanting to go into the details just yet, Beckett looked around and noticed the saw still buzzing from where it was hanging, by its cord, precariously off the edge of the examination table. "Shouldn't you turn that thing off before someone gets hurt?"

"Girl, if you don't stop stalling imma hurt _you_." Lanie said, but reached down and turned the saw off anyway.

"Fine. No. Well, there was some wine involved. But just one bottle."

"So let me get this straight. You and Castle finally got your heads out of your asses and got it on?" Lanie's expectant look made Beckett squirm.

"Yes?"

Lanie was silent just long enough to make Beckett think that maybe Lanie wasn't quite as happy about this as she thought she would be. But then the air was knocked out of her lungs as the short woman tackle-hugged her and squeezed tight.

"Finally! Oh my god, I am so happy for you, girl! It's about damn time though-" Lanie stopped short and rushed over to the calender to check the date, "Aw man, you couldn't have waited two days? Then I would have won. Hmph, should never have let Evelyn in on the bet."

"Evelyn?" The name sounded familiar but she just couldn't place it.

"Evelyn Montgomery. Roy's wife." Beckett was too busy wondering just who all was involved in this betting pool to notice Lanie's eyes widen as she did some quick calculations in her head and realized that last night was during one of Beckett's 'unsafe' days. Which was something she really wished she didn't know but the girl was like clock work, it wasn't that hard to figure out.

"You two weren't stupid enough to go at it without a condom on, right?" she asked, moving over to the corpse she was supposed to be autopsying and carefully putting him back into his spot in the fridge, deciding that he could wait.

"Uh... Well, we never really made it to the bedroom and if there were any left they would have been in my nightstand..."

"And you couldn't have been apart for just a few seconds to run and grab one?"

"Too far away."

"Oh? Details, missy. Where exactly were you at that was too far away from bedroom?" Lanie moved over to hop up onto one of the clean tables and gestured for Beckett to do the same, but she just stood there staring at her feet.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you, speak up woman!" Lanie demanded when Beckett just mumbled her answer.

"The kitchen table."

"...Ew. Never eating at your place again."

"And by the coat closet."

"Oh ho, more than once huh?"

"And at the top of those steps in the kitchen, and the bathroom sink-"

"Wait, in the bathroom too? Your bedroom connects to the bathroom, you can not tell me that it was too far then."

"Well no, but it was a little late by then, don't you think?"

"That's true," Beckett finally moved over and hopped up onto the other clean table and then Lanie continued, "at least you are taking your pills, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"So...How was he?" And so they spent another half hour discussing some very interesting things until Esposito and Ryan came down for the autopsy report that hadn't even been started yet.

It wouldn't be until the next morning that Beckett would find out that she had somehow managed to miss a day or two of pills without even realizing it.

* * *

**IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: Lanie has way too much fun checking if Beckett has any early pregnancy symptoms.**

**I should have just had this as one big chapter but I got it into my head to go ahead and put it as two but now I'm realizing that was was kinda stupid but I've already got all this up so...**

**Next chapter will be out some time tomorrow, er today actually.**


	90. Keeps The Coffee Shark Away

**Characters: Beckett,Castle, Ryan, Esposito**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Castle plays a prank on Beckett involving coffee and a shark.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**So the next part of the last chapter is turning out to be a lot longer than I expected so I wasn't able to get it as soon as I had hoped but it will definitely be done tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy this little idea that came to me when I saw a picture of the cup described here.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Coffee Shark Away...

When Castle brought her white coffee cup back from the break room looking whiter and cleaner than it had before he went in there, Beckett was instantly suspicious.

But she didn't get to dwell on it long since before she could take a sip, the Captain came out asking for a progress report on their case. By the time she finally got around to drinking her coffee, she had completely forgotten about it being mysteriously whiter than before.

Knowing that she was going to need all the caffeine she could get, she downed half the cup in one go and then happen to glance down and see the white shark sticking out of her coffee.

The shriek- and crash from when she flung the cup away- nearly made Ryan and Esposito fall out of their seats.

"What? What's going on?" Ryan asked as they ran over to her but before they could say or do anything else there was another crash as Castle fell out of his own chair because he was laughing too hard.

"You. What the hell was that, Castle? There was a shark. In my coffee!" Beckett glared and moved to stand over him with her arms across her chest but Castle was still too busy laughing at her reaction to answer her.

Oh yes, buying that cup with the head of a little white shark sticking out of the bottom of it was definitely a good idea.

Even if he knew Beckett would definitely make him pay for it eventually.


	91. Doesn't Keep Papa Beckett From Calling

**Characters: Beckett,Castle, Jim**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Family**

**Summary: Beckett is determined to keep Castle away while she is recovering, but her father has other ideas.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**The pregnancy thing is taking a lot longer than I thought it would... **

**So instead you get this, my version of what _should_ happen while Beckett is recovering.**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Papa Beckett From Calling...

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since Beckett was released from the hospital and Castle hadn't heard a word from her since.

A long two weeks that Castle had spent wearing multiple holes in his floors while in a near constant state of worry over the detective.

He knew she was going to live, after all the doctors wouldn't have let her out of the hospital if she wasn't stable, but was she doing okay? Was she able to get around okay? Was she eating enough? What if she forgets to take her medicine? Or if she decides to be stubborn and go without them? Was she getting the physical therapy she needs? What if she hurts herself and reopens her wound and no one is around to help her so she bleeds out and no one knows until someone finds her cold, lifeless body on the bathroom floor?

Of course he knew the last one was irrational since he knew her father was staying with her but he couldn't help the horrible thoughts racing around his brain.

If he could just see her and see for himself that she was doing okay, he would feel so much better.

But after she left the hospital she stopped answering his calls and when he went over to her apartment, he found out that she had told the doorman/security guard not to let him in.

The only way he knew she was still alive was that she _occasionally_ let Lanie come by and see her.

Lanie always reassured them that Beckett was doing fine, but he wanted- needed- more. At this point, if he just could hear her breathing through the phone he would be happy, but no, she still wouldn't answer the her phone.

Castle was startled out of his frantic thoughts as his phone started ringing loudly in his pocket, a number he didn't recognize showing up on the screen.

"Hello?" he learned very early on never to answer calls from people he didn't know with his name, you never knew when it was a crazy fangirl who had accidentally dialed the wrong number.

"Rick? Rick Castle?" It was a male voice so it wasn't a fangirl but it sounded a little hushed so he was still a little wary.

"That depends on who is asking?"

"It's Jim. Jim Beckett, Katie's father." Again with the almost whispered tone.

"Oh, oh yes! Yes, it's me. Oh no, did something happen? Is she okay? Did-"

"Shush!" The older man interrupted Castle's frantic speech, "she's fine, or well you know, as fine as someone can be after getting shot. I just, oh god she's going to skin me alive if she finds out I called you but look, I know you care for her a lot and I know she is trying to pull away from you for whatever reason she has cooked up in that pretty little head of hers but I just keep thinking that if it was me and Jo in this situation I know I'd be going nuts with worry. So I'm going to try and keep you up to date on what's going on with her but she can't know."

When Jim finished talking, Castle didn't know what to say except, "Thank you. Thank you so much. You don't know how grateful I am for this. Just thank you. If there is anything she needs or something that you need, please, please let me know. If she won't let me be there for her in the way I want, at least I can still help in someway."

"Will do but I better get off here before she wakes up and catches me. You have a good night, Rick."

"I will. You too, and remember, anything at all. I can get it."

When they hung up the phone, Castle felt like a little of the weight had been lifted off his shoulders knowing that he now had a way of really knowing if she was okay or not. And a way to help even if it wasn't the way he wanted.


	92. Doesn't Keep Alexander From Being Psycho

**Characters: Beckett,Castle, Jim, Alexis, Alexander**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: Jim Beckett meets Alexander, the closet.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Maybe if I don't put an excuse here I'll finally be able to finish the pregnancy one?**

**This is the last other fic I had saved up anyway so...**

**This one is by the lovely MorgieSan. We were talking about how we needed more Alexander and thanks to a typo we ended up realizing that Jim should meet Alexander. And then Mogie kinda ran away with the idea on skype so here you go.**

* * *

One A Day Doesn't Keep Alexander From Being Psychotic...

"Dad, I want you to meet my psychotic closet."

"Your what, Katie Bug?"

"This is Alexander, and he's a black hole," she replied, swinging the door open.

Jim stared at the closet, the perfectly normal closet. With rows of shoes and racks of coats and her ever present supply of work pants. "How... How did you get all of that to fit in there?"

Kate gaped at the closet. "Really, you're going to get pissy because I said you were psychotic?"

Alexander yanked the door from her grip and slammed it shut. A few moments later he popped back open, spat out her coats, and then quickly slammed shut.

"He's uh... PMSing. He's been fighting with Gertrude, Castle's dishwasher. Lover's quarrel."

"Or maybe your Alexander is an Alexandra."

"No, Dad, it's a he. Trust me on this one." She shuddered at the memory and knocked lightly on the door.

"What are you doing Katie?"

"Making nice," she turned her attention back to the closet door and spoke again, "Alex? Hey... I'm sorry. What I said was mean, and I didn't mean a word of it. Forgive me?"

Jim stood motionless, trying very hard to decide if he was drunk or if Kate had finally lost her mind. The closet decided for him, it popped back open and sucked him, his daughter, and her abundance of coats in and tossed the two of them out, sans the mountain of outerwear, into Castle's foyer.

Alexis cocked her head at them like a curious puppy before turning around and yelling back into the loft, "DAD! KATE AND HER FATHER ARE HERE, I THINK THEY USED THE CLOSET!"


	93. Keeps The Two Week Wait Away 2

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: ****After finding out that Castle and Beckett finally slept together, Lanie gets slightly obsessed with checking Beckett for early pregnancy symptoms. Part 2.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**I have no time management skills whatsoever. This seems extremely short compared to the amount of time it took me to do it... And it's not even finished yet. Sigh.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Two Week Wait Away... Part 2

Telling Lanie that she had accidentally forgotten to take her birth control pill turned out to be the worst decision of her life because apparently, according to Lanie, you can have some symptoms of pregnancy right after the 'unsafe' days are over. It's called the 'Two Week Wait', and it even has a website where other women have shared their stories of what their symptoms were.

A website that Lanie has become extremely addicted to, much to the annoyance of Beckett.

* * *

_Day 1 _

"Nausea?"

"No."

"Soreness in the girls?"

"No."

"Headache?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yeah, from you. Don't you have work to do, Lanie?" Beckett asked the M.E. who was sitting cross-legged on Esposito's desk, reading from a list of early pregnancy symptoms she had made after researching them the previous day.

"They'll call me if there is a body for me to work on. Now, feeling bloated or gassy?"

"Ugh, no." With a thud, Beckett let her head fall onto her desk and groaned, wondering why she was still friends with Lanie and thanking god that the bullpen was nearly empty right now and that Castle had decided to go with Ryan and Esposito out of town to look for their suspect.

* * *

_Day 2_

"Uh, not that I'm complaining, but you've been kinda clingy today, Beckett." Castle said when he found Beckett waiting for him outside of the bathroom. She had been practically attached to his side all day.

"Oh uh, sorry." She moved away from his side but still kept closer to him than she would normally but Castle knew better than to push the subject any further. Even if they had finally slept together, nothing really changed. They were still the same old Castle and Beckett, even if Beckett suddenly seemed to be attached to his side.

Beckett knew she was being way more clingy than normal but this was the only way she could get a break from Lanie. Despite being as obsessed about this as she was, Lanie knew better than to talk about it while Castle was around. She was annoying, but she was still a good friend.

As Castle and Beckett walked back to her desk, Beckett stopped dead in her tracks as she swore she felt a sort of twinge in the lower part of her stomach.

But then as Castle gave her a questioning look, she brushed it off and cursed Lanie for making her paranoid about having symptoms.

* * *

_Day 3_

When the phone rang on her day off, Beckett considered not answering it but since it said the call was from Esposito she figured it might be important.

"Beckett." she said, her voice coming out nasally due to her stuffy nose. Unfortunately the detective seems to be coming down with a nasty cold.

"You know, a lot of these women have cold like symptoms. Are you sneezing too?" Lanie. She should have known.

"Does Esposito know you stole his phone? And no I am not sneez-" Beckett pulled the phone away from her ear and tried to cover it, but Lanie still heard the loud sneeze she let loose.

"Yeah, uh huh. You just keep telling yourself that. Maybe it'll come true. Now, let's talk about this whole 'avoid Lanie' thing you've been doing..."

* * *

_Day 4_

After a long day of chasing down lead after lead on their newest case, while still dealing with a cold, Beckett gratefully collapsed on her comfy bed after changing into a pair of leggings and one of her favorite sleeping shirts.

She was just about to drift off to dreamland when someone started knocking on the door to her apartment. With loud groan, she pushed herself off her bed and sleepily made her way to the door.

Once she opened the door just a little, Castle muscled his way through with large soup thermos in his hands.

"I made you some soup. It's my own recipe, guaranteed to clear that cold of yours right up."

"Thank you, I'll-" she started, intending to take the thermos from him and see him out the door so she could go back to sleep without eating it, but Castle seemed to know that's what she planned to do.

"No, no. You go back to bed and I'll bring it to you as soon as I get this dished up." Without waiting for her to say anything, he just headed straight for the kitchen, leaving Beckett to sigh and finally shut and lock the door.

A little while later found the two of them comfortably stretched out on her bed, eating soup and watching an old sit-com they found on TV.

After only a few minutes of trying to get comfortable while still wearing the clothes he wore to the precinct earlier in the day, he gave up and stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and was finally able to get comfortable on Beckett's bed.

And that's now Lanie found them about ten minutes later after she had let herself into Beckett's apartment with the spare key she had.

"Well, don't you look right at home here in your Star Wars boxers." Lanie suddenly said, startling both the detective and writer who hadn't even heard her come in, and unabashedly checking out Castle in his boxers.

Castle started fidgeting under the M.E.'s stare and started trying to shy away from her until Beckett finally spoke up.

"Was there a reason for you coming over here, Lanie?"

"Oh yeah, right, I came over to see how you were feeling and if you needed anything but since Writer Boy is here and you seem to be doing fine I'll just be going and let you two get back to whatever you were doing. Don't bother getting up, I'll see myself out. Later you two." Lanie spun on her heel and headed out of Beckett's bedroom and Beckett immediately turned to Castle.

"Five bucks says she is hiding in the living room somewhere and spying on us."

* * *

_Day 5 _

As soon as the doors to the elevator opened, Lanie strode out and went directly to where Castle and Beckett were sitting at Beckett's desk and plopped down a file in front of the detective. "Here is the toxicology results you wanted on Mr. Lake."

"Thank you," Beckett said with one eyebrow raised, "but you didn't have to bring it all the way here yourself."

"I knew you wanted it as soon as possible, plus I wanted to see how you were _feeling_." Her emphasis on the word 'feeling' had Castle looking at them curiously but Beckett just rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Lanie. My cold is almost gone."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

Beckett went back to the paperwork she was doing, Lanie narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the detective, and Castle just sat there feeling like he was missing something.

* * *

**THERE WILL BE ANOTHER PART, don't worry, this isn't the end. But I've been promising you guys a chapter for this for days so I figured I would go ahead and split it into two parts.**

**And since I seem to be having difficulties actually staying focused on writing, I'll just say that the next part will be out _soon_. **


	94. Keeps The Hormonally Imbalanced Away

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Smooshy**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "What are you doing?" "Teaching her how to high-five."**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**More Smooshy from Mogie while Nikki attempts (and fails) to control what she is now calling Fanfic Writer ADD, or FWADD for short. (Yes, Nikki also needs sleep.)**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Hormonally Imbalanced Away...

"What are you doing?"

"Teaching her how to high-five."

"Rick..."

"What?"

Kate rolled her eyes and walked back to the other room; Lily happily skittering off to follow her.

"Lily! No. Stay." Rick scrambled up off the floor to follow the dog, issuing command after command to the puppy.

"Stop fussing at my puppy," Kate said, wheeling around to poke him in the chest. "She's not going to do anything for you with a tone like that."

"Tone like what?"

Kate squatted down and looked at Lily, she then calmly spoke, "Sit."

Lily's bottom dropped down to the floor and she looked at Kate expectantly.

"Good girl," Kate lilted, scratching the puppy behind the ears.

"Oh sure, she listens to you the first time."

"That right there, the exasperation, the mad. She doesn't like that. She thinks she's in trouble."

Rick sighed and got down on his knees next to her. "I was a little harsh wasn't I?"

"Damn right you were. You also need to help her master the _basics_ before you move on to stuff like that." She poked him again and turned back to the puppy who was still sitting calmly in front of her. "Go play," she whispered, giving Lily's a little nudge toward her toys.

"You're mad at me."

"No," she sighed and rocked back onto her butt. "Just hormonally imbalanced because someone in this room had the audacity to get me in a family way."

Rick sputtered at her for several long seconds.

"He's gonna kill you, you know. Getting his baby girl pregnant out of wedlock," she teased.

He finally found his voice. "Takes two to tango, woman," he growled, before pulling her in for a searing kiss.


	95. Keeps The Manhattan Trials Away

**Characters: Beckett, Olivia, Peter, Walter, Astrid**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: "It's actually a matter involving Dr. Bishop. I need his assistance in a homicide case." While trying to solve a case, Beckett finds herself in an interesting situation. **

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Mogie decided to write some Frastle to get me to work on Creeper!Lanie. Frastle = Fringe + Castle for those who don't know.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Manhattan Trials Away... 

"Can I help you?"

Kate spun around and smiled nervously. "Only if you can tell me where I can find a man named Walter Bishop."

Astrid considered the tall brunette carefully before speaking. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kate Beckett. I was hoping to speak with him about a personal matter," Kate explained, holding her right hand out for Astrid to shake.

"He's out with his son right now. If you'd like to leave your number I can make sure he calls you back," Astrid offered, placing the file box on the lab table; she kept one eye on Kate the entire time.

"I'd rather just wait if that's alright. I'm in town for a few days and have nothing but time on my hands."

"Astro! Come, give us a hand."

Astrid sighed at Kate and scurried off towards the door to see what Walter needed. She grabbed one end of the large box he was dragging into the lab. Peter and Olivia followed behind them hauling their own impressive load. Kate went over and grabbed the box Astrid and Walter were working with, intent on helping Astrid drag it wherever it needed to go when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Is that a cow?"

"That's Gene," Walter supplied happily.

Kate nodded and stood up after they got the box where it was going. "Gene, the cow. Okay." She dusted her hands off and stood back.

Walter dove into the box and scattered the packing peanuts everywhere as he pulled out pieces and parts of some contraption. He dutifully ignored the unknown as he placed the new purchases in their respective homes. "Aspirin, bring me the label maker!"

Astrid left to go grab the label maker and Olivia approached Kate. "Hello, I'm Kate Beckett."

"Olivia Dunham, something we can do for you?"

"It's actually a matter involving Dr. Bishop. I need his assistance in a homicide case."

"Boston PD?" Peter asked, perking up.

"New York, actually. I caught a case; the victim seemed to be fixated on Dr. Bishop. I was hoping he could shed some light on it."

"Katie! Come, I need your assistance," Walter called from the other side of the room startling everyone equally. "Quickly, Katherine! Over here."

Kate obeyed and nervously approached the older man. "You need me?"

"Yes, give me your hand," he demanded, grabbing her wrist and yanking her arm out over the table palm up. "This won't hurt. Much."

"What?" The alarm was evident in Kate's voice as she pulled on her arm in vain.

"Stop that. Close your eyes. Concentrate on the sun."

"No," she argued, pulling on her arm again.

"Asteroid! Hold her!"

Kate yanked her arm free and backed across the room into another table.

"Asterix! Grab her."

Peter stepped between Kate and his father and fixed the man with a decidedly displeased stare. "Walter. You're scaring her. Why do you need her?"

"I didn't mention that?"

"No, you didn't."

"She was in the trials as a child. Belly and I ran a test batch in Manhattan, she was a very promising participant. Very promising indeed. She's no you, dear Olive, but she's quite powerful. Psychokinesis. I simply need the dear girl to generate a bit of heat for me, to weld with."

As Walter and Peter continued to bicker, Kate started to wonder if maybe she had bitten off more than she could chew with this case.


	96. Keeps The Walls Away

**Characters: Beckett, Castle, Lanie, Ryan, Esposito, Gates**

**Rating: T **

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: All day long Beckett had been in such a horrible mood that no one dared to even go near her, so Lanie decides to find out what is bothering her.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Gotta love the FLO references.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Walls Away...

All day long Beckett had been in such a horrible mood that no one dared to even go near her. Even when Ryan or Esposito had something to tell her about the case they were working on, they still wouldn't go near her. They would just write everything down and use a ten-foot pole to give it to her.

And poor Castle, he seemed to get the worst of her anger since it seemed like whatever has turned her into this demon was at least partly his fault.

Finally, after nearly the whole homicide division ended up hiding in the morgue, Lanie had had enough.

"What in the hell has that man done to get you so wound up?" Lanie's voice echoed in the deserted bullpen as she walked up to Beckett's desk.

"Fucking walls, Lanie. It's these damn fucking walls."

A little while later, Lanie opened the double doors to the morgue and took in all the people crammed in there as they hid from the crazed detective.

"Did you find out what's wrong with her, Chica? Is it safe again?" Lanie looked over at where she could barely make out Esposito's head among all the other detectives and was silent for a moment before replying to his question.

"Imma need you all to scoot over and make room for me. She's gone crazy!"

* * *

"Beckett, I am going to need you to-" Captain Gates stopped mid sentence as Beckett turned around and glared at her, sending chills down her spine.

Ten minutes later, the morgue gained another living occupant.


	97. Keeps The Two Week Wait Away 3

**Characters: Beckett/Castle, Lanie**

**Rating: T+**

**Genre: Humor**

**Summary: ****After finding out that Castle and Beckett finally slept together, Lanie gets slightly obsessed with checking Beckett for early pregnancy symptoms. Part 3.**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

**Oh so this is what the fanfic upload page looks like... It's been so long since I uploaded anything that I'd nearly forgotten what it looked like...**

**WARNING: This is the third part in the Creeper!Lanie story and it mentions pregnancy related girly things so, you've been warned.**

* * *

One A Day Keeps The Two Week Wait Away... Part 3

_Day 6_

"This case is making absolutely no sense at all. It's like a puzzle, but we've only got half of the middle pieces and none of the outer pieces." Kate said as she threw her head back onto the armrest with a groan, their case was at a near standstill.

"We've been staring at this for hours," Castle said as he gestured towards the makeshift murder board they had set up when they had finally had enough of the new Captain breathing down their necks and decided that they would probably make more progress if they left the precinct when Beckett's shift was over. "Let's take a break and do something else for a while."

"Oh, and what exactly did you have in mind there, Mr. Castle?" Beckett pulled her legs off his lap and tucked them under her so she could lean up and let her lips hover over his as she talked.

"Well, I was thinking-" he jerked forward as someone started knocking loudly on her door, causing their lips to touch briefly, "-that you answer your door. Were you expecting someone?"

With a small sigh at the bad timing of the person trying to break down her door with their fist, Beckett climbed off the couch and headed towards the front door. "Not that I remember."

A quick look through the peephole in the door revealed that it was Lanie on the other side and Beckett seriously considered pretending that she wasn't home, but figured that if she didn't, Lanie would just keep knocking, or give up and use her spare key.

When Beckett opened the door, before she could even open her mouth to greet the M.E., Lanie forced herself inside and suddenly her hands were squeezing parts of Beckett's body that Beckett was definitely not okay with her squeezing.

"What the hell, Lanie?" Beckett practically flew backwards and crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

"Just finding out for myself, since you won't tell me anything. Are they sore?" Lanie said, not knowing that she was completely creeping Beckett out with the way she was staring at her chest with her hands in the air, twitching like she was itching to grab at them again.

"Yeah, because you just squeezed the hell out of them!" Beckett took a step back and Lanie lunged at her again, managing to grab a hold of them when Beckett had to remove her arms to gain back her balance; she'd nearly tripped over her heels that she had kicked off earlier and left in the middle of the floor.

Something shattered to the right of them and they both paused to look over at the source of the noise and saw Castle standing there with his eyes and mouth wide open and a shattered glass at his feet where it had slipped out of his grip.

"Uh," Lanie looked back and Beckett and quickly removed her hands from the detective's chest then turned towards Castle, "I've always wanted to do that?"

* * *

_Day 7_

The last bits of a very good dream faded out as Beckett became aware of how uncomfortable her chest was and rolled off her stomach and onto her back to relieve the pain. Even though she could practically hear Lanie telling her that sore boobs were a very, very common sign of early pregnancy, she wasn't overly worried about it. After all, Lanie had _assaulted _them, that was a perfectly logical reason for them still being sore.

She hated sleeping flat on her back so she gently rolled over to one side and managed to get comfortable and tried to go back to sleep.

Except, she kept having an odd feeling that something wasn't right. Beckett opened her eyes to glance at the clock but instead she found herself face to face with a pair of eyes she could just barely see over the edge of the bed, staring at her in the dark.

With a shrill scream that probably woke up her whole apartment building, Beckett flung herself back and grabbed the gun she kept under her pillow, pointing it at the figure who immediately stood up with their hands held up high.

"Whoa, whoa, Becks. Calm down, Girl, it's just me." came a familiar voice from the figure that was getting more distinct as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Lanie?" Beckett lowered her gun and put it off to the side on her nightstand table, then quickly threw the pillow she still had in her other hand at her friend where it hit her square in the face. Hard. "What the fucking hell, Lanie! I could have shot you! What are you doing here?"

"Never mind about me, I want to know about that smexy dream you were having. It sounds like you and Writer Boy were having yourselves a good old time there. Sounded pretty vivid too, judging by the sounds you were makin'. You know that vivid dreams are a sign too, right?"

Beckett's heart was still beating fast after the scare Lanie had given her and it felt like all that extra blood was being pumped straight into her chest causing it to feel even more sore and heavy and Beckett decided she had had enough.

"Lanie? If I tell you something, will you leave me alone for a while?" she said after she caught a small glint of metal on her nightstand that she knew wasn't there when she went to sleep.

"Depends on what it is." Lanie replied, crossing her arms and looking at Beckett suspiciously in the dark since no one had bothered to turn on the lights.

"Oh it's good, trust me."

"Fine, what is it?" Once Lanie agreed, Beckett moved over until she was sitting on the edge of the bed and had Lanie lean down so she could whisper in her ear.

"I am," she started, slowly reaching around the M.E. to carefully grab Lanie's keys that were sitting on the nightstand and hide them under the covers without her noticing before yelling the last bit, "not pregnant!"

Lanie jumped back and fixed a glare on Beckett. "Ow! Geez, Kate. Just you wait, woman, just you wait. You'll see that I'm right."

"Uh huh, and while we are waiting, can you please get out of my apartment so I can sleep?"

"Yeah sure, whatever. I got what I wanted anyway." Lanie started walking out of Beckett's bedroom and Beckett followed behind her, carefully pulling off a single key from the keyring.

"Oh, and what was that?"

"I got proof that your girls are sore, and that you are having some very _vivid _dreams. Whoa man, if you and Writer Boy's sex life is anything like you were dreaming-"

"Okay!" Beckett cut her off, shoved her keys at her, and started pushing her the last few feet to the front door, "Goodbye. See you tomorrow, okay? Okay, bye." She all but pushed the M.E. out the door and slammed it shut and locked it behind her, not even caring about the neighbors she might be waking up at this point. She just wanted to get back to sleep.

Luckily for Beckett, Lanie wouldn't discover that Beckett had taken back her spare apartment key until much later that day.

* * *

_Day 8_

Beckett sat at her desk, dutifully doing her paper work as beads of sweat dripped down the back of her neck. There were so many people rushing around the bullpen doing various things and making it feel so stuffy in there that she wasn't sure how they could stand it.

In fact, she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand it as she felt her stomach start to protest the heat as well by making her think she might be seeing her lunch again soon.

Beckett looked over at Castle, intending to tell him that he might as well go home and get out of the heat, but was shocked to see that he looked perfectly cool and fine, happily playing some random game on his phone.

"Aren't you hot?" she asked and Castle looked up at her for the first time in an hour or so and noticed the sweat glistening on her forehead.

"No...but it looks like you are. Are you feeling okay?" Without waiting for her response, he reached over and pressed his cool hand to her forehead. "Jesus, Kate! You're burning up! I thought you said you were over your cold?"

"I am, Castle. I'm fine, they must just have the heater on high or something in here."

"Kate, everyone in here has been talking about how they wished they had brought heavier jackets. The heater is just barely keeping this place from freezing."

She didn't know how to respond to that so she kept quiet as he studied her for a few minutes before jumping up and grabbing her hand to pull her up as well.

"Okay, I'm taking you home because you are obviously not feeling well. Let's go." Castle grabbed their jackets and quickly put hers on her, despite her protests, and started pulling her towards the elevator.

"Castle, let go. I need to finish all that paperwork." she said, trying to tug her arm away from him but moving too much just seemed to make it hotter so she wasn't trying that hard and it didn't take him long to get her in the elevator.

"It can wait and you know it. What you _need_ is to actually rest until you get better."

"But-" The elevator doors shut on the detective and writer, cutting off her sentence before the M.E. lurking in the shadows of the bullpen could hear the rest of her protests.

But Lanie was fine with that because fevers and nausea were very common around this time in the two week wait.

* * *

_Day 9_

Nearly scalding water poured over Beckett as she scrubbed furiously at the skin on her arms with a washcloth, more out of frustration than anything else.

She had almost gotten her hands on the sweet mana from heaven that Castle brought her all the time when a new rookie had bumped into Castle, causing him to spill both his and her coffee all over the both of them.

It was really an innocent mistake and she knew it, but it's safe to say that that rookie wouldn't be hanging around the homicide division anymore after she nearly bit the poor guy's head off.

Yes, she overreacted, but dang it, she wanted that coffee. She had been looking forward to that little joy in life ever since this morning when she woke up and realized that her fever was gone, but she now had stomach cramps.

Stomach cramps that were really more like period cramps, but she knew it was still a few days too early for that.

So now she was taking a shower at the precinct, washing off all the coffee and trying to get in a better mood before she went back out there so she didn't end up shooting someone.

As she moved to scrub at her chest, deciding that her arms were clean enough now that they were a nice bright pink color, she came to the other reason why she was in such an irritated mood.

Her "girls", as Lanie would call them, were still very, very sore and heavy. Can't forget the heaviness. Breasts were not meant to feel like boulders when they come out of a bra. And, as if that wasn't enough, there seemed to be veins popping up all over the place on them, which she knew from the list of symptoms that Lanie kept repeating to her every chance she got, were a very big symptom of pregnancy.

Nope, no way was she pregnant. It just wasn't happening. She was just paranoid because of Lanie and her stupid Two Week Wait site.

"Are you trying to scrub all of your skin off?" Beckett whipped around so fast that her hair sent water flying everywhere to see Lanie standing just outside of the shower stall.

"Whoa, those are some impressive veins you got going on there. 'Course, it's been a long time since I've seen them but I'm pretty sure those weren't there before..." Lanie trailed off as she stared at Beckett's chest with a look of concentration as the detective stood there frozen for a few seconds, just gaping at her best friend.

"You know that veins like that are-" Beckett said Lanie's name to get her attention and normally Lanie would have just ignored her and continued on but the tone she used sounded rather menacing.

"If you don't leave right now that favorite shirt of yours that you have on right now? It's going to get ruined by cherry scented shampoo."

And of course, Lanie didn't take her threat seriously until a few seconds later she was dodging a bottle and the stream of shampoo coming out of its open lid.

"Fine, I can take a hint," Lanie called back over her shoulder as she headed out of the women's shower room, "but you better tell me if you start having any cramps or pain! That could be a sign of a little Castle baby settling down in there!"

With a loud sigh, Beckett walked over and picked up the bottle of shampoo and was just about to start cleaning up the shampoo mess when she noticed Karpowski glancing between her and the door Lanie just left through with a confused and wary expression on her face.

"Uh, about that..." Beckett tried to explain but Karpowski just held up a hand and Beckett fell silent.

"About what? I didn't hear or see anything, in fact, we didn't even have this conversation." With that Karpowski turned around and left, leaving Beckett alone to clean up the spilled shampoo with a thought running through her head.

_'Lanie couldn't possibly be right, could she?'_

* * *

_Day 10_

Normal people would be asleep at four-thirty in the morning. Normal people wouldn't be sitting on their couch with a giant pile of home pregnancy tests, that their best friend had hid in various places for them to find, sitting on their coffee table.

Kate Beckett was not a normal person.

She sat there wishing that she could be surprised that Lanie did this, but she really wasn't.

It all started yesterday when she had went to get dressed after her shower and a single pregnancy test fell out of her locker. As soon as she realized what it was, she had quickly gotten dressed and snuck it into the bullpen so she could hide it in her purse when she found another test sitting innocently inside her purse.

If she hadn't been so freaked out trying to hide them, she would have noticed that the spare key she kept in her purse was missing.

When she finally made it home that night, after a very long day of being paranoid that someone was going to look into her purse, she had opened her refrigerator to see another test.

Then she found one in her pantry.

And then in her bathroom, her bedroom, her office, and even one sitting on the middle of her dining room table.

Everywhere she looked she kept finding one until she ended up with the giant pile sitting on her coffee table.

Now, after trying and failing to sleep, she found herself staring at the pile at four-thirty in the morning, wondering if maybe Lanie was right.

What if she really was pregnant? What if Lanie was right and all these weird things going on with her weren't because of some crazy cold she caught? What would she do if she really was going to become a mother?

What would that mean for her and Castle? Would he want her to keep it? Would he be a good father? Yes, of course he would, he was a great father but would she be a good mother? How would it affect her job? What if-

Beckett firmly patted both her cheeks to snap herself out of her thoughts before they got even more frantic but it didn't take long before her attention was back on that pile of stick.

Well, she thought to herself, there's only one way to settle this.

* * *

"_First morning urine is highly recommended but not required."_

Well, it was morning so she had that covered.

"_Collect your urine in a cup. Only a small volume is needed."_

Huh, she'd always assumed that you literally just peed on the stick but this was slightly more sanitary. It took her a few minutes, but she finally found an old plastic cup that she could use and then get rid of after it had served its purpose.

Quickly, feeling just a little bit awkward and silly for doing this in the first place, she did what she needed to do.

"_Remove the test cassette from the foil pouch and place it on a flat, dry surface."_

Well duh, what else was she going to do? Wave it around in the air? Put it in a sink full of water? She wanted to do this right so she was going to do exactly as it said, even if some of it was just common sense.

"_Using the dropper included with the kit, collect a sample of the urine. Hold the dropper upright over the round sample well, gently squeeze and add four drops of urine into the round well."_

With a slightly shaky hand, knowing that this could change her life forever, she did as it said then quickly looked away from the test and went back to reading the box.

"_In 1 to 3 minutes a color line will appear in the C area to indicate the test is finished."_

So in one to three minutes she would know her fate. These were either going to be the longest or shortest minutes of her life. As she sat there mentally counting the seconds until three minutes were up she read the part where it told how to read the results over and over again.

The C or control area that was on the right side of the test would show a line no matter what- unless, of course, she was unlucky enough to get a messed up test.

It was the line on the left, the T or test line, that would give her the answer. If a line showed up, she was going to have to deal with a gloating Lanie and tell Castle that they were starting a family together a little sooner than either of them had planned. She briefly wondered if he wanted another girl, or if he would like a son. Either way, any child with his genes in them would be completely adorable.

The three minutes were up sooner than she would have liked and with a deep breath she closed her eyes and felt her way over to the test and didn't open her eyes until she knew her hand was covering up the portion with the results.

Slowly she reminded herself to breathe and slid her hand to the left, just enough to reveal that the control line was there. Good, it wasn't a defective test at least.

It took longer than she would ever admit to pluck up the courage and take her hand completely off the test and when she finally did, she wasn't sure how she felt about the result after all the 'what if's her mind had come up with.

There was no test line.

* * *

**I wanted to wait and upload the rest of this story in one chapter but certain people (CoughBookyCough) were getting impatient. **

**So there will be one more chapter for Creeper!Lanie.**


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